Formula One fan ‘lucky’ to avoid ‘horrendous’ injury after being struck by debris

A Formula One fan required medical attention after he was struck by flying debris in the chaotic ending to Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Will Sweet (31) said he was fortunate to avoid a “horrendous” injury and called on Formula One and its governing body, the FIA, to make sure it does not happen again.

Sweet, who is from England but now lives in Australia, was standing at the second corner of Melbourne’s temporary Albert Park street circuit when Kevin Magnussen crashed into the wall on lap 54 of 58.

Magnussen’s right-rear tyre flew off his Haas and bounced along the race track, while a large piece of wheel rim from the Dane’s car launched 20 metres into the air, over the catch-fencing, before lacerating Sweet’s right arm.

Describing the incredible sequence of events, Sweet said: “I saw a puff of smoke and was following Magnussen’s car along the track and not following where he hit the wall and then suddenly a piece of debris came up flying over the fence and hit me on the arm.

“I was looking at my arm, not really sure what was going on and didn’t realise I had been hit by a piece of debris. I thought I had been hit by a person.

“But people behind me were scrambling around, fighting over who gets this piece of wheel and I’m like ‘what’s that?’ We pieced it together and I realised, ‘holy s***, that’s just hit me in the arm’.

“My forearm was raised because I was holding a tiny FM radio to my ear, but if my arm hadn’t been there, I could have been hit in the neck. It could have hit my fiancee standing next to me on the head.

“I was also lucky not to have been hit by the very sharp end of the debris because that would have gone straight in. The debris was very sharp and very warm. It could have been a lot worse. It could