Though the drivers of today don’t have to contend with the same risks as drivers forty years ago were all too familiar with, it should never be assumed that motorsport is totally safe. Evidence to this is the massive collision between teammates Ryan Tveter and Peter Li at last weekend’s Formula 3 race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. What started off as an innocuous-looking trip into the sandtrap, a lack of visibility and a very quick corner led to a grim, frightening accident.

As Tveter overcooks the entry and spins off into the gravel trap, it seems as if a few positions is the meager price he’ll pay. However, as he pirouettes through the gravel and back onto the live racetrack, a huge cloud of sand and debris follows him, obscuring the view for drivers behind. Unfortunately, Tveter comes to a rest on the racing line, and seems to have stalled his engine in the process. With all of this happening in the course of a few seconds, the marshalls weren’t able to effectively signal to the other racers of a stationary obstruction on the other side of that looming, brown cloud.

Through the haze, his teammate Li charges with no intention of slowing down, finding his teammate at the last possible moment and turning his car into a launching ramp. With a violence that is uncommon in today’s racing, Li’s black-and-blue F3 car launches thirty feet into the air, spinning several times and coming down to an ominous stop.

As Li’s car tumbled through the air, many must’ve assumed the worst.

In the process, Pedro Piquet, son of the three-time World Champion, knocks off a corner and retires as well. But all eyes are on the eerily motionless Li and the frantic Tveter, who, pumping with adrenaline, runs off the course and subsequently collapses. While Tveter was no more than bruised and disoriented, his teammate suffered four broken vertebrae and a broken bones in his heel that will be operated on.

Had this incident happened thirty years ago, the result could’ve been fatal. Thankfully, with carbon monocoques, HANS devices and speedy recovery teams, even major crashes like this aren’t necessarily career-ending, nor are they always a matter of life and death. However, this horrifying collision shows that even today, an astute driver can never afford to become complacent on the track.