Webber escapes unhurt in dramatic Valencia crash

Australian Mark Webber escaped serious injury when his Red Bull flipped into the air and landed upside down in a dramatic crash at the European Grand Prix.

The Formula One title contender hit the back wheels of Heikki Kovalainen’s slower Lotus at turn 12 of the Valencia street circuit and lifted off almost vertically.

The nose and roll bar took the impact with the track as the Red Bull slammed down before righting itself, minus front wheels and wing, and careering into the tyre wall.

Webber, winner of two grands prix this season and championship leader before McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, tossed the steering wheel from the cockpit and jumped out seemingly unscathed while the safety car was deployed.

The Australian had started on the front row alongside team mate Sebastian Vettel but made a poor start and was running in ninth place at the end of the first lap. He had pitted for a change of tyres two laps before the accident on lap 10.

‘I was defending and I think he ran into me,’ Finland’s Kovalainen, also unhurt, told the BBC.

Former grand prix driver David Coulthard, a Red Bull consultant, added: ‘Motor racing has just seen one of its luckiest days. That could have been a very, very bad incident.’