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F1 driver Webber hit by car during charity race

Australian Formula One driver Mark Webber is carried on a stretcher from a rescue helicopter to hospital after he suffered serious injuries after being hit by a car during a charity multi-sport race near Hobart, Australia, yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Australian Formula One driver Mark Webber suffered a broken right leg when hit by a car yesterday during a charity multi-sports race, a race official said.

“He’ll likely have a pin inserted in the leg today, and spend three days in hospital,” event director Geoff Donohue said.

Webber, who drives for F1’s Red Bull team, was riding a bicycle along a road near historic Port Arthur in the southeast of the island state of Tasmania when he collided with a four-wheel drive vehicle, Tasmania Police Sergeant Jon Ford said.

“As a result of the collision, the rider, Mark Webber, suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries,” Ford said. “He was attended at the scene by paramedics attached to the event before being airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital.”

The male driver of the car escaped injury, police said.

Webber was later transferred to Hobart Private Hospital.

Officials there passed along any requests for updates on his condition to Donohue.

“Mark’s in good spirits,” Donohue said. “Paramedics attached to the event attended to Mark very swiftly and he’s had really good treatment at the scene before being transferred to hospital. It was a really unfortunate accident.”

Donohue said it was unclear how much the accident would impact on Webber and Red Bull’s preparation for next year’s F1 season beginning in March, although a broken leg would likely leave him on the sidelines for at least six weeks.

Red Bull have already begun testing for next year. Testing in Barcelona involved Sebastian Vettel who has joined from Toro Rosso, and five-time World Rally Championship winner Sebastien Loeb while Webber was back in Australia.

The team’s next scheduled testing session is in Jerez in southern Spain from Dec. 9.

The accident happened while Webber was competing in his own charity event, the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, a 250km challenge using mountain bikes, kayaks and trekking, when the accident happened.

Ford said the bike leg used open public roads and it was not known whether the stage including the accident scene was cordoned off for the racers.

The challenge, first staged in 2003, is scheduled to end today in Hobart.

New South Wales born Webber has had two podium finishes in 121 Formula One starts since his debut in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
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