Watch This Horrific Formula 3 Crash From Red Bull Ring

And be amazed no one died.

bySean Evans|
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This is one of those extreme crashes that is literally breathtaking. Your lungs pause the split second that Formula 3 Carlin team driver Peter Li Zhi Cong emerges from a enormous dust cloud caused by teammate Ryan Tveter going off in Turn 5 at Spielberg, to see that Tveter is directly in his path and barely rolling. There’s no time for Li to react and he goes airborne into a barrel roll after slamming into Tveter.

Tveter, spinning around on the ground, gets walloped by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Piquet, who careens off towards the wall. The three-car wreck happened just seven minutes from the end of the first F3 race held at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and the aftermath saw an unconscious Li being airlifted to a hospital in Graz via air ambulance. The adrenaline coursing through Tveter’s body sees him springing into action and running from his mangled chassis to the nearest track official. The American looks unharmed, but a limp quickly sets in. At the hospital later, Tveter was discharged with a badly bruised knee. Piquet escaped the crash uninjured.

Li, who spent a good three seconds in the air before smashing into the ground, was diagnosed with four fractured vertebrae and a shattered heel, requiring surgery in the immediate future. Despite those injuries, Li is lucky to be alive, and posed for a quick thumbs-up picture, posted by Tveter.

Tveter also thanked “all those who have pushed forward safety in racing. Because of them we’re still here,” specifically calling out the FIA, Dallara Racing Group and his Carlin team.

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