Formula 3: 'I won't stop her from racing again,' says Sophia Floersch's father after horrific crash

ByKevin Coulson

Updated 20/11/2018 at 10:42 GMT

Sophia Floersch’s father will not stop her from racing again, despite the 17-year-old fracturing her spine in a horrific airborne crash in Formula 3.

Floersch endured 11 hours of surgery after the crash in the Macau Grand Prix after being saved from paralysis by doctors initially on the scene.

VIDEO: F3 driver Sophia Floersch survives horrific airborne crash

And now her father, Alex, has revealed the terrifying moments he endured after the crash, and also insisted he would prevent his daughter from racing again.

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He told the Daily Mail: “Those 30 or 40 minutes after the crash were the hardest minutes of my life. Trying to find her was very difficult. I did not know what was going on. All sorts of concerns come into your mind at a time like that.”

[RELATED: Motorsport news - F3 driver Sophia Floersch has 'no fear of paralysis' after successful surgery]

To fix her spine, doctors took a bone from her hip to repair one of her vertebrae and have now announced she will not be paralysed.

“The FIA and all the medics did a great job and I would like to thank them for everything they did,” added Floersch’s father.

She is awake and things are going smoothly after the operation.

"The doctors say that if everything continues to progress satisfactorily that she will be in hospital in Macau for six or seven days before flying back to Germany.

And, Mr Floersch also addressed the issue of whether she would return to F3.

"We have not yet spoken about whether she will race again — it is too soon for that — but from my point of view there is nothing I would do to stop her."

Team boss Frits Van Amersfoort also told the BBC: "Everything is working and everything is in order.

We are extremely happy that she is now recovering and that everything went extremely well. There's no fear of paralysis whatsoever.

The Grand Prix was paused for an hour before junior Red Bull driver Dan Ticktum won the race.

Crashes are frequent at the Macau Grand Prix which this year, in its 65th edition, hosted six car and motorcycle races on the 6.2-km Guia Circuit around the streets of the island.

Last year, British motorcyclist Daniel Hegarty died after hitting the safety barrier during a race, the eighth rider to have lost his life on the circuit since 1973.

Additional reporting: Reuters

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