Webber happy to walk away from crash

Mark Webber has had his fair share of big accidents during his motorsport career. Two massive technical failures saw him twice flip his Mercedes off the circuit at Le Mans in 1999 and another big crash saw the Australian lucky to escape unharmed in the final round of the F3000 championship in 2001.

The latest addition to his small collection of spectacular smashes saw Webber destroy most of his Jaguar R4 after hitting both barriers at the pit exit on lap 51 of the Brazilian Grand Prix. Thankfully, Webber yet again emerged unscathed.

It seems difficult to accept that any driver would not be psychologically affected by such incidents but the easy going Australian accepts such risks as part and parcel of the job.

"As far as my crash is concerned, it was nice to be able to walk away," said Webber. "I've had four good ones now but that's the first one I've had in a Formula One car."

The safety measures introduced to Formula One over the last few years have served to make the sport a much safer one. Not only have circuits been altered for driver safety, but the cars are also now able to withstand bigger impacts whilst protecting the driver.

"The safety measures are so good now that I have a lot of confidence with the car's ability to protect the driver in a crash," added Webber. "Having said that, I'd like to keep them to a minimum! It's hard to say whether or not the HANS device helped or not but if it has the ability to stop the neck going forward and protect the spine, it has to be a good thing."

-jaguar-