Catch fence almost kills F3 driver in Macau

Kevin Magnussen, the son of former McLaren and Stewart Formula 1 racer Jan, survived a 165mph trip into the catchfencing near the end of Sunday's Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix. Magnussen was battling with William Buller when he claimed the Fortec driver moved over on him as he attempted to pass on the straight after Mandarin corner on lap 13.

Magnussen's car was catapulted into the air, and struck the catchfencing "20 feet in the air" according to his team boss Trevor Carlin, who was shown CCTV footage of the accident.

"I'm really happy to be here right now," said Magnussen. "I hit Buller, took off and hit the fence. When I went up in the air, I closed my eyes, so I don't really know what happened. I need to look at the video to understand."

Magnussen's only injury was a minor leg injury, which he hit on the inside of the cockpit when he struck the debris fencing. His car's gearbox cluster was ejected from its casing.

The crash sparked a second incident behind, as Carlos Sainz Jr was towing along behind Welshman Hywel Lloyd. As Lloyd braked to avoid Magnussen's crash, Sainz's car went underneath it and then hit the wall.

"I was doing 270km/h, flat in sixth gear," said Sainz. "I went right under his car, because I couldn't see there was an accident and he just braked hard in front of me. When we got out of the car I could see Kevin was a bit shocked and was complaining about his leg." Autosport

[Editor's Note: So you see that even on street courses an open cockpit, open wheel car can get up into the catchfencing. With no canopy over his head to protect it from hitting a steel catch fence pole, Magnussen could have met the same fate as Dan Wheldon – instant death. Hence his comment "I'm really happy to be here right now."]