A fan was struck on the arm by flying debris at the Australian Grand Prix and bled significantly, but conceded that he was eventually left “relieved” after managing to save his partner from getting smashed by it on the head.
The fan in question, Will Street, was hit by a metre-long piece of metal debris that came out of Kevin Magnussen’s car following a crash in Sunday’s race.
For Will, although he was left with lots of blood streming down his arm, the saving grace was the fact that it didn’t hit his fiancee who was standing next to him. Being taller than his partner, he claimed that it “probably would have hit her right in the head.”
Asked about the incident, Will said: “It’s a great question, I’m not sure. I think Kevin Magnussen came around Turn 2, I followed him with my eyes. But straight ahead of me apparently a piece of debris had flown over the fence.
“Lots of people around me moved, and it managed to hit me right in the arm – I had my arm up, I had a radio piece in my ear. I’m not sure what happened really!”
According to Will, things could have ended far worse. Unfortunately for him, though, he wasn’t allowed to keep the metal debris as a souvenir.
“Honestly I’m feeling pretty lucky. It ended up being not as serious as it could have been,” he said.
“The piece of debris was quite large. Standing right next to me was my fiancee and she’s a bit shorter than me. So where it hit me in the arm it probably would have hit her right in the head.
“Honestly I’m feeling pretty lucky it wasn’t worse.
“After it hit me I was obviously a bit confused and bleeding all over my partner’s nice rug. So I was busy dealing with that,” he said.
He may have saved his fiancee’s life, but Will did disclose that she had already suggested that they should move, feeling the area wasn’t very safe.
While he assured her to stay there, he confessed that it meant he lost the argument.
“It was a great race, it was a ridiculous race,” he said.
“It was quite funny because after the accident with Kevin Magnussen my partner said: ‘Oh I don’t know if I feel safe standing here.’
“And we convinced her to stay in the spot because it was great. And a couple of laps afterwards two Alpines managed to crash right in front of us again. I kind of lost the argument!”