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<\/p>\nAs motorsport fans enjoy a weekend of high speed and Formula 1 glamour, a team of specialists are hoping for quiet at the Australian Grand Prix.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nestled away and out of view from the public sits the grand prix medical centre at Albert Park, with trauma specialists from Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital on stand-by for the worst moments in motorsport.<\/p>\n
Racing is inherently dangerous, with car crashes part of any category.<\/p>\n
Improvements in safety have resulted in fans regularly seeing their favourite driver emerge from a crash unscathed. But drivers involved in any crash still need to be checked by medical professionals, despite appearing to be fine in the immediate aftermath.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those drivers head to the grand prix medical centre, where Jack Spencer and his team are stationed all weekend to ensure care can be granted as quickly as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“If a car is disabled by impact, either with another car or by the wall, [the driver] has to be seen by the medical centre,” Dr Spencer told ABC Sport.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When a car is retired after a crash, the driver needs to be checked by the medical professionals. (Getty Images: Speed Media\/Icon Sportswire\/Santanu Banik)<\/p>\n
An example Dr Spencer gave on Thursday was a driver in a support series who crashed into the wall, but was able to exit the car under his own power.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, because the car had been disabled, the driver needed to be cleared by Dr Spencer’s team before being allowed to race for the rest of the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The Albert Park medical facility for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
But the emergency staff at Albert Park can do much more than just check over a driver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We do have the ability to intubate, ventilate, and even in the worst possible circumstance, do a thoracotomy: that’s open someone’s chest,” Dr Spencer said.<\/p>\n
Several years ago, the medical centre needed to have the ability to perform surgeries, according to Dr Spencer, with neurosurgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, and theatre staff.<\/p>\n
But Albert Park is unlike many F1 tracks; it is very close to not only the city CBD, but also to a trauma hospital.<\/p>\n
The proximity to the Alfred Hospital has allowed Dr Spencer and his team to advise whether a driver can bypass the medical centre for treatment.<\/p>\n
“The ethos here is that a lot of these patients will go, if they’re significantly injured or suspected, they will bypass the medical centre, and they will go to the Alfred straight away,” Dr Spencer said.<\/p>\n
“The initial check [is done] by a doctor in one of the course cars on the scene, and ambulance staff.<\/p>\n
“Then you’d have a quick discussion with race control and me, and I would direct them that I think that this person should go straight to the Alfred.”<\/p>\n
Albert Park has been the scene of many dramatic crashes, but the most spectacular came in 2002, Dr Spencer’s first year working at Albert Park.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Ralf Schumacher had one of the Australian Grand Prix’s most dramatic moments, when his Williams took flight in 2002. (Getty Images: LAT Images\/Pic Me)<\/p>\n
That year, a multi-car crash on the opening lap was highlighted by Williams driver Ralf Schumacher flying through the air and into the barrier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Incredibly, not only was no driver seriously injured, none required attention from the medical centre.<\/p>\n
“That was amazing when he took up and went over the top,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We stood up and put on our X-ray gowns.<\/p>\n
“There were three cars in that, and no-one came in.”<\/p>\n
ABC Sport will have live blog coverage of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, March 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As motorsport fans enjoy a weekend of high speed and Formula 1 glamour, a team of specialists are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,16482,817,259268,259269,813,816,841,1737,825,913,2333,85],"class_list":["post-523652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-grand-prix","tag-f1","tag-f1-australia","tag-f1-melbourne","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-grand-prix","tag-lando-norris","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mclaren","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}