Inadequate crash barriers and poor positioning of a chicane on the track could have been major contributing factors in Sunday’s crash, according to a former professional Formula 3 driver.
“From what I have seen of the footage, the placement of the chicane was a fundamental error as the exit seems to push a car at speed towards the grass,” Maltese-Australian driver Damien Digby told Times of Malta.
“Proper planning would have never put people in the direct line opposite to where an out-of-control car would inadvertently travel. It’s why you never see unprotected spectators on the exits of corners,” he said.
Footage of the crash shows the Porsche 918 supercar navigating a two-point chicane constructed out of crash barriers before appearing to clip the grass at the edge of the runway and spinning out of control into a crowd of onlookers.
Mr Digby, who won three Australian championships in an 11-year career, said the lack of effective crash barriers could have exacerbated the scale of the incident.
“Unsafe barriers, such as those I saw in the pictures around the carnage, act merely as projectiles that just strike more people in these types of accidents.”
Only a row of plastic crash barriers – not filled with water as is often the case – and metal crowd control barriers separated the large crowd from the track.
“Old fashioned hay bales, a safety barrier from the 1950s era, would have been much more effective but unfortunately were not present,” Mr Digby said.