Beitske Visser’s car is removed from the track after an accident during qualifying before round five of the W-Series at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on August 27th Photo: Dan Mullan (Getty Images)
Friday’s qualifying for the W series race on Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps was briefly interrupted after a serious crash in Raidillon, one of the fastest corners on the track. Six drivers – Fabienne Wohlwend, Beitske Visser, Sarah Moore, Abbie Eaton, Ayla Agren and Belen Garcia – independently lost control of the fast right turn and were gathered near the wall within the top of the following left. Another car, apparently that of Academy driver Nerea Marti, could be seen far away from the wreck towards the run-off zone on the opposite side of the track.
Fortunately, all drivers are in good health, most of them will be examined on the track and two – Agren and Visser – will be taken to hospital for further examination. Agren was released that evening and Visser is still there, despite a CT scan showing no injuries and reportedly “in a good mood” official W series Twitter.
This is certainly a godsend for everyone involved, as the video below shows. I warn you it is still harrowing to watch, even though no one appears to have been seriously injured.
As the riders approached Eau Rouge, it started to rain, which explains why they kept sliding off the track, completely independently and without contact. Still, this is the kind of consistent chaos one might expect from an oil spill. Visser’s car is the one sent over the tire wall, thrown into the air by Garcia’s car. When Visser came back down, Wohlwend’s car crashed into hers and overturned.
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The session was suspended for about 30 minutes and the W-Series decided – rashly – to resume qualifying afterwards before saying anything about the drivers’ conditions. W series posted a short interview later that afternoon with Eaton and Moore, where Moore explained how treacherous the conditions quickly became:
When I came out of the last corner into the first push lap, it was just starting to drizzle. I knew that if it rained it would be the only dry lap I would do, so I kind of had to go all-in. I got in the direction of Eau Rouge, turned in and just – the stern just cracked and from then on I was really a passenger. There was nothing I could do.
Today’s incident follows the other convulsive crash it happened a month ago at the exact same point on the track during the Spa 24 Hours. In this case, after Raidillon, Jack Aitken’s Lamborghini hit the same inner wall, was spat out on the other side of a blind knoll in the middle of the road, and was hit by several other cars at high speed. Aitken suffered collarbone and vertebral fractures and a bruised lung.
After that crash – and with Anthoine Hubert’s fatal accident in 2019 in mind – Alfa Romeo F1 reserve driver Callum Ilott called organizer Make changes to Eau Rouge and Raidillon. Formula 1 race director Michael Masi said in response to Ilott’s comments that Spa “is safe from the FIA’s point of view”. F1 is also in Spa this weekend; The W series supports the Grand Prix. Given the recent history of these nooks and crannies, it may be time for those in power to take a more urgent look at the criticism.
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