Young F4 racer hurt during event, pushing for more safety measures

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by Jessica TaylorTue, October 26, 2021 at 10:37 PM

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At fifteen years old, Christian Weir is already setting records in the world of motorsports. Christian competed in the U.S. Formula Four championship alongside the Formula One event this past weekend. (Photo courtesy: Christian Weir Racing)

AUSTIN, Texas — At fifteen years old, Christian Weir is already setting records in the world of motorsports. Christian competed in the U.S. Formula Four championship alongside the Formula One event this past weekend.

“I strive to be in Formula 1 so much, and it’s very time consuming but it’s well worth it”

After an incident on Sunday, he’s off the racetrack and on the road to recovery.

Lyons says the organizations do a great job at keeping people safe, but he hopes changes will be made to the curbs to make the sport safer.

“I was looking up at the clouds and I was like oh shoot,” said Weir.

Christian says he was pushed into the curb, propelling him into the air. He suffered compression fractures to his spine. According to his Facebook, he was treated at Dell Seton Medical Center Sunday night before being cleared to go home.

“He’s very, very lucky to be walking right now, and I’m surprised he’s in such good spirit,” said his coach, Richard Lyons.

Lyons is a former racer and says since these cars are very low to the ground, hitting the curb has a similar effect to hitting a brick wall.

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“I’ve seen it too many times before and in fact the day before one driver hit that curb and went into the air and broke their back exactly the same way,” said Lyons.

Lyons says the organizations do a great job at keeping people safe, but he hopes changes will be made to the curbs to make the sport safer.

“The FIA, they do a really remarkable job on safety, and these accidents happen, this has actually happened to me before the same injury as Christian but slightly different circumstances, it’s a common injury in these kinds of cars,” said Lyons, “but going forward I think, the curbing that’s there, probably is too big of a penalty to the driver and the car, for what it’s doing.”

Lyons also hopes to see the championships remind young drivers to be respectful on the track.

“I want them to fight hard, of course, but I want them to have that element of respect as well,” said Lyons.

Christian is managing his pain now and has six weeks to go in a brace. After that, he hopes to be back behind the wheel.

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“Seeing all those fans and the hundreds of thousands of people there was really cool,” said Weir.

His coach will keep cheering him on.

“Austin put on a great show and it was phenomenal to see Christian at an F1 podium on Saturday, and we’re just sorry we couldn’t see him on Sunday, but we’re looking forward to great things from Christian Weir,” said Lyons.

We reached out to Circuit of the Americas and FIA late tonight. We’re waiting to hear back.