Formula 4 driver Sophia Flörsch had the scare of a lifetime Friday at Ochlersleben. Flörsch barely missed an SUV that was driving across the track to retrieve a stopped Formula 4 car.
Fortunately, Flörsch was able to dodge the oncoming car just in time by turning into the grass.
Flörsch had slowed for yellow flags out on track before the near miss, according to a discussion thread on . However, you can see a red light flashing to her right about three seconds into the video, which indicated that she needed to slow further and prepare to stop for emergency vehicle traffic on the track.
An ADAC spokesperson confirmed that Flörsch should have slowed more for the red flag to .
Bizarrely, Flörsch was fined €20,000 ($22,803) just for posting the video:
At a time when even Formula One is loosening up on social media, this seems overkill. Race officials are investigating the incident and may still penalize Flörsch further for missing the red flag, per Autosport.
Either way, whoever sent the emergency vehicle out on track also should have double-checked to make sure that cars were slowing down before sending it to drive across the track. The situation that happened as a result of Flörsch missing the red light was absurdly unsafe, and we’re glad she dodged the truck regardless.