Yas Marina Circuit’s chief medical officer, Dr Sean Petherbridge, tells Abu Dhabi Week why the Yas Marina Circuit is one of the safest in the world.
Day-to-day, Dr Sean Petherbridge, is a specialist in family medicine, with a background in some emergency medicine, working for the Ambulance Service in the UK.
Sean started out working for the Desert Challenge and the Dubai Rally, as part of a team for the national sporting association, the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATC UAE).
“As I was the Chief Medical Officer for the ATC UAE, when a big sporting event like the Formula 1 came along, I naturally became chief of that,” says Sean.
"Formula 1 is very different from the Desert Challenge and requires a much bigger team, but it’s good fun to be involved with, and we want to make it as safe as possible.”
Can you tell us a little about your team?
“For the Formula 1, we’ll have one F1 medical car, five medical intervention/fast-response cars, four cutting vehicles, three extrication teams (of six people), and there will be a total of 15 ambulances. There’ll also be two helicopters fully equipped for medi-vac use.
“There’s also a trauma centre on site, which will have ten medical staff for the event, and there are also foot positions around the circuit (for example, in the pit lanes).
“The total number of personnel, including all administration staff, for the medical team is 83, and if you add up all the vehicles, that comes to about 20.
“We’ve got a great mix of local and international specialists. There’s a much greater local involvement this year, which is great, and we’ve also thrown in some F1 veterans, so that we have the perfect skill mix.”
How does your race day start?
“We head down to the circuit for around 7.30am, with the official briefing starting at 8am.
“The whole team, including the paramedics, doctors, nurses, radiographers, the rescue teams and technicians will all be there to run through their schedules for the day.
“Once we’re done, I call up race control to ask for permission to drive on-circuit, and then I deploy all the teams to their various positions, at corners three, nine, 11, etc.
“When they’re in position, we then need to inspect the team – a mandate from the FIA. Myself, and the deputy-chief medical officer, Dr Ali al Suwaidi from Sheikh Khalifa Hospital, do the inspection.
“Once the teams are in place, the clerk of the course will do his inspection, and then racing can start.”
What happens if there’s a crash?
“The decision of how to respond is made by myself and the clerk of the course. We will only go out on to the circuit if the driver is trapped, not moving or if it’s obvious that there’s an injury on-screen.
“The first to deploy is the Formula 1 medical car, which is a silver Mercedes estate C63 AMG. This goes out with one of our doctors and the nearest medical intervention car. This is a car with a doctor, a paramedic and a fast response driver as backup.
“Between them, they run the trauma scene. It may be that the car needs to be cut; then we ask for a rescue crew to come out. Then the extrication team will secure the driver in the seat of the car. They’ll fix the head in the seat, then lift the entire structure out of the vehicle safely.
“Finally the ambulance arrives for transportation back to the medical centre. At the medical centre the driver is stabilised, and in nearly all cases is flown to hospital with one of the medical helicopters.
“The primary receiving hospital is Sheikh Khalifa Medical Center, but we’d use Mafraq Hospital if it’s a burns case. Abu Dhabi Military have also set up a 100-bed field hospital, on Yas Island, expandable to 180 beds, should it be needed for a major disaster.
“The best thing for me, obviously, is that nothing happens, and I do nothing. That’s what we all want to happen. But, if the worst happens, my team can be on the scene in 30 seconds.”
