F3 driver escapes horror crash at Parabolica

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Formula 3 driver Alex Peroni suffered an enormous crash in which his car was launched onto the barrier in the closing stages of today’s first race at Monza.

Peroni’s car flew into the air after appearing to strike a kerb at the exit of the corner. He emerged from his car following the crash and is being taken to the medical centre for checks.

Campos said their driver appears to be unhurt but “will go to the hospital for more tests”.

Replays of the crash indicate the kerb may have been damaged before Peroni’s car hit it. The crash occured with four laps remaining in the race, which was won by Prema’s Robert Shwarzman.

How Peroni’s car was launched

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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49 comments on “F3 driver escapes horror crash at Parabolica”

  1. That sausage kerb was a disaster waiting to happen. Seems like at the time it was only considered that it would stop guys going wide, not what would actually happen if they went wide. Remove it. That is not something you want to see. Thank everything for the halo there.

    1. Exactly.
      Not every car that finds itself there actually set out to go there. And a lot of viewers made that observation when it was first introduced, that it didn’t make sense.

    2. Thankfully it has been removed.

      1. Glad Peroni is unhurt. Great to hear that it has been removed. Who on earth thought that putting a massive sausage kerb on the outside of such a high speed corner was a good idea?!?! I dread to think what cold have happened if it was a faster car like an F2 or F1 car

    3. Yes!
      Ban this silent danger immediately!

  2. The halo saved a life. Wow.

    1. Exactly my thoughts.

    2. Looking at how the car crashed upside down in the tyres the driver would have been badly hurt to say the least. Halo was my immediate thought too. 🤞

    3. I haven’t seen the accident, so, genuine question.

      Did the halo play a part in keeping the driver safe? If it did then obviously that’s great news.

      I also haven’t seen last weeks tragic accident, and have no desire to do so, but did wonder if it was something halo should have prevented or not?

      1. No, the halo could not save him

        1. OK, I have now seen the Monza crash courtesy of a .gif on Facebook.

          Certainly looks to me it came down on the halo and would have been the drivers head if there wan’t a halo.

  3. I don’t under how you can have tarmac that runs you over a ramp on a F1 track. Just put grass or gravel next to the track

    1. To be honest im furious, its unacceptable. It was really close to another fatality.

    2. @anunaki Gravel and grass don’t slow down the cars as efficiently as tarmac does, though.

      1. I agree, but they just extented the track in the corner and put a ramp like kerb. And behind it there is gravel.

      2. Gravel and grass don’t slow down the cars as efficiently as tarmac does, though.

        @jerejj eh? Please explain how a flat roadlike surface slows cars down at all?

  4. It’s simply illogical at this point to suggest the Halo has saved a life here. I don’t recall drivers dying pre-Halo every time a car flipped, does anyone else?

    Less of the hyperbole!

    1. Well if you smash head first into the barriers…go watch the video

    2. In this case, it really looked like he would have hit the wall with the helmet without the halo.

      1. No doubt there will be an investigation and we will learn if the Halo was significantly involved. I dio think there is a tendency in airborne accidents for viewers and commentators to get overly excited.

        Either way, it’s great news the driver was able to walk away.

    3. Having actually watched the crash and numerous replays, the Halo almost certainly made a difference here.

      1. No doubt this incident will be studied in detail and we’ll find out in due course if the halo did indeed prevent injuries.

        One of the things about accident investigation work is to be calm and look at the facts without jumping to conclusions with limited evidence.

        As previously stated, the good news is that the driver was able to walk away.

        1. I’d be, like, really amazed if it didn’t…

    4. You are a special kind of stupid!

      1. +1 – not even sure how one could think the Halo didn’t help when the car falls from the sky and lands upside down

        1. I appreciate it may well have helped, and I commented to early, to be honest, having not had a good enough look at the video, other than on my phone.

          Nonetheless, thanks for the insults guys, classy.

          1. You are off my 1 person, the responses were to @paulguitar

          2. The way you questioned it in the first place came across as weird and pointless, that’s why some insulted you. The halo is here to stay, no need to be so pessimistic about it. It probably saved the f3 driver last week too in spa, a crash that was overlooked because of the f2 crash.

    5. More interesting is why do I see several comments here and elsewhere on social media where people *dont* appear to want it to have been the Halo that saved him.

      I find it very difficult to conclude otherwise … head would have taken a massive impact without it in place.

  5. I hope the team and the family sue the FIA for everything they have. A sausage kerb there? Really?

    That’s insanity.
    I feel a rant is deserved but I don’t have the words, I’m just so angry.

    Thank good it sounds like he’s ok.

    1. @sham Yes, that’s a fantastic idea!

      Let’s be more like Americans: Sue for money, pointing fingers, make sure everybody is worse off except you and improve absolutely nothing!

      1. Unfortunately, unless there is a penalty for the organisers when it goes wrong this kind of short sighted mistake will happen. It isn’t the first time they’ve put something in place without understanding the consequences, but this one nearly cost a life. Imagine if an F1 car hit it?

        And since money talks, that should be the penalty for organisational stupidity of this kind

        1. Hey, they corrected their mistake by removing it. No one was up in arms about the sausage kurb until the accident happened. The drivers sign contracts which prevent stupid suing and know the dangers.

  6. Crazy. It’s unbelievable the way the car just takes flight like that. It was maybe 5 meters up in the air. Luckily there were no marshals behind the barriers at that section.

    1. Looking back at the video, there are actually 2 marshals close to where the car ended up. Good thing they had a escape route available.

    2. It’s not unbelievable the way the car takes off. It was travelling at high speed and effectively hit a ramp. What’s unbelievable is the fact the kerb /ramp was there in the first place!

      1. The sausage kerb in line of a possible path of travel to the track on a wide, fast speed corner like the Parabolica is really unbelievable. However, what I mean is that usually cars go maybe 2 or 3 meters high. In this case it seems to have been around 5 meters, which is something I only remember seeing on IndyCar ovals, not F3.

  7. Thinking about Ericsson’s crash last year, of his car had gone to the right, he’d have launched over the first chicane’s sausage kerbs just like that, while going much faster.

    Maybe it’s time to find an alternative to sausage kerbs.

  8. Kerbs apparently being removed before practice

  9. All I want this weekend are the top 3 teams to have mechanical failures and give us an exciting podium . No more crashes please.

  10. Another scary crash there. Glad he driver seemed not to be seriously injured.

  11. It seems wise to have a big think about what to do with run-off areas. I am starting to suspect that these asphalt patches in place of gravel or grass might actually be more hazardous.

    Either way, if the halo was indeed helpful here I am sincerely glad of that and happy it was there!

  12. I’m all for removing the kerbs on safety grounds but then there’s the issue of drivers purposely exceeding track limits again.

    1. Masi said times would be deleted, maybe he’ll bring out the black and white flag for wide infractions?

  13. Some people are saying the halo saved him , we don’t know also the roll cage can do the same protection in a crash like this

    1. That’s what I was suggesting, @hellothere we don’t actually know yet.

      However, for this, I am a ‘special kind of stupid’.

      1. The more safety the better, not keyboard warriors personal ideas of motorsport safety. Halo is there for a reason, not for cosmetics and is playing it’s part in improving safety

  14. That kerb was plainly idiotic. I miss Charlie.

Comments are closed.