How Supercars doctor brought calm to Melbourne mayhem
Not often does a moment take your breath away like the one that saw three Supercars torn to shreds in last weekend’s scary Melbourne crash.
For Dr Carl Le OAM, who has been Supercars’ Permanent Medical Delegate since 2008, controlling the scene in a matter of seconds is part of the job.
Dr Carl, who has over 500 races of experience as Supercars’ doctor, was key to the response of the accident that put Broc Feeney, Cooper Murray and Zach Bates out on the sport.
While accidents happen in racing, seldom do several cars get taken out at Turn 1. It’s even rarer that the championship leader is the one who cops the biggest hit.
A pioneer in incident response procedures and tools, Dr Carl arrested the situation in next to no time, ensuring that all drivers were able to return to the paddock in the best possible condition.
So, how did Dr Carl view the incident, and what did he do to protect not only the drivers in the crash, but his fellow medical staff, officials and those left in the race?
Dr Carl spoke with Supercars.com to unpack the incident, what he saw, and how he reacted.
The process
Dr Carl has handled some of the most significant incidents and responses in Supercars history, with few as memorable as the 2011 Perth crash between Karl Reindler and Steve Owen.
Just as he was that day, Dr Carl was first on the scene with his medical crew on Sunday, and had to assess the situation in real time.
The procedure of medical car following the field on lap 1 was inaugurated by the late Professor Syd Watkins for Formula 1 in 1978, following Ronnie Peterson’s fatal first lap incident at the Italian Grand Prix.
On this occasion, there were five Supercars strewn at the scene, all at different areas: the damaged Feeney car was at the exit of Turn 1, the Bates and Murray cars were in the outfield, while David Reynolds and Jackson Walls had spun off to the inside.
“When the race starts, we keep a distance so we can see what's happening. We’re certainly on high alert looking for yellow flags or any signs or lack of noise that would indicate a stalled car,” Dr Carl explained.
“Going back to 2011, there was a huge incident with Steve Owen and Karl Reindler, where Karl’s car was hit from the back, which ruptured his fuel cell.
“Turn 1 is potentially messy, and particularly at circuits such as Albert Park, where there's quite a long run from the start line to Turn 1, and they’re entering at high speed.
“At Albert Park, there's a lot of runoff, so there are no close walls there. So generally cars escape it. You might see someone get bogged in the gravel.
“This was an unusual incident where Broc had been turned around and then he decided to do that flick turn, and the situation became pretty complex.”
The incident
Dr Carl arrived on the scene with long time Australian Grand Prix medical car driver Anthony D’Anna, almost as Feeney’s car came to rest. Dr Carl quickly assessed the scene, which was underneath a cloud of Feeney’s tyre smoke.
“When we arrived at the corner, the first thing we saw was that there were waved yellow flags indicating that there's something going on. I had a really good view and I could see that there was a lot of smoke, which indicates someone's trying to light up their tyres,” Dr Carl said.
“Over the years, I've simplified my communication with my driver. Now, I have four basic commands: slow, continue, pull up, and stop. When we see something happening, when we see flags waving, I give the instruction to slow the vehicle down so we can watch it evolving in front of us.
“On Sunday, that's what we did because we could see cars slowing down at the entry to Turn 1. We could then observe that there were a number of cars that were facing the wrong way on the driver's right, two of which resumed [Reynolds and Walls]. We have to give them enough space to resume as well.
“Once the smoke settled, it became apparent that there was a wheel in the middle of the track, and that it had come from Broc's car. So I quickly identified that Broc's car was the most damaged car, and even in that split second, you could see that there was quite a severe impact to his car.”
The response
Having seen the condition of Feeney’s car, Dr Carl leapt into action. D’Anna stopped the car at broad side, protecting Feeney and the medical staff from the train of cars following behind the Safety Car.
Once he arrived to at the #88 Ford, Dr Carl quickly assessed Feeney's condition, and had to peel back damage from the car to communicate with the driver. Such was the shock for Feeney, that the car was still on, triggering Dr Carl into action to switch the Mustang off.
"I made the call to stop — pulling up allows us to get into a position where we can visualise the driver,” Dr Carl said.
"Stop means that we need to park the car in a defensive position to both visually and physically protect the scene. Anthony did that, and stopped close to Broc’s car.
“Typically we stay on bitumen. The car's broad side so that, if we did need to do a rescue when the race cars come around again, it's physically protecting the scene.
“Between my legs, I carry a jump bag that has a lot of first intervention gear in there, both medical and non-medical. That includes a fire blanket, a crowbar and workman’s gloves, and then I carry all medical equipment as well. I grabbed that, opened my door safely and went to Broc’s driver side door.
“His door was actually deformed, so I actually had to break a bit of the body panel to get that door open. As soon as I got that door open, I could see that Broc was responding. I told him to get out of the car. I could see he was moving all his limbs appropriately and flicking switches.
“The next thing that I noticed is that the car was still live, so all the lights on the dash were still on. So I used one of two safety switches that they have on the cars. in front of the driver on the next to the A pillar. There are two safety switches: one is the fire bomb, and the other one's the electrical kill switch.
“The electrical kill switch disconnects the battery from the car so that it minimises the risk of sparks, ignition and flame.”
Controlling the scene
Once Feeney extricated from the car, Dr Carl directed him to the medical car.
Drivers are high on adrenaline, and sometimes, all they want to know is how damaged their cars are, or who was at fault. Dr Carl and his staff must bring calmness to the situation, before getting the drivers to the medical centre.
Given the medical car at his disposal for the Grand Prix, Dr Carl put all three drivers in the medical car, which was immediately sent to the medical centre at the back of the circuit.
“Broc self extricated, and whilst he was doing that, I could see that there were two other cars on the driver's left, which were Cooper Murray and Zach Bates. They were still in the car there. By that time, Anthony and the second doctor that was in medical car were on scene as well,” Dr Carl said.
“So my view then changed to rescue as such to control the scene and getting those drivers to safety. I directed Broc to Anthony, who escorted him back to the medical car. We had him under control.
"Typically drivers want to look at their cars, look at the damage and be upset about it. But more importantly, our role is to try and be as efficient as possible, and let the show continue.
“So, as Broc was escorted back to the medical car, I then ran across to Zach's car. Just as I got there, he was getting out. So I directed him and the second doctor to escort him back to the medical car, before I got up to Cooper’s car, which was further up at the exit of Turn 1. He also self-extricated.
“The priority was to get those three drivers back to the medical centre. So I sent the doctor and the drivers back to the medical centre, which is at Turn 13, while I waited for another medical intervention vehicle to come and pick me up."
The aftermath
Dr Carl’s response continued beyond the crash. The race resumed, and he retook his post at pit exit. However, he also reassessed the drivers post-race.
"I certainly was concerned that there was potential for more injury to Broc, but thankfully there wasn't. I was initially worried about his wrists because he would've been trying to control his flick spin when he got hit. Thankfully, his wrists were okay when I assessed him later,” Dr Carl said.
"The other concern was that his body was going one way and all of a sudden he flicked the other way. I needed to assess if he had some rotational injury to his head, or any level of concussion. But again, when I assessed him later at the end of the race, he was completely fine.
“We do get G-force readings from the cars, but in this instance, we were out of the medical car before we were able to get any of that information.”
The legacy
At his core, Dr Carl is a race fan. He loves racing, and loves Supercars. However, the importance of his role isn’t lost on him.
It has led to Dr Carl pioneering the ‘Driver Slider' and ‘Universal Rollcage Hook’, ensuring safer and faster methods for rescuing drivers from a vehicle. He also co-founded the volunteer Team Medical Australia association.
He was also recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours list for his service to the industry. Away from racing, he was added to the COVID-19 Honour Roll, which was brought in 2021 for contribution, service, or achievement relating to the pandemic.
The eye to improve processes never stops for Dr Carl, who is determined to keep the show going.
“There's a reason why the medical car is at the back of the grid,” Dr Carl said.
“It was instituted by Dr Syd Watkins in Formula 1 back of the 1970s after the death of a an F1 driver on the starting grid, where he was left stricken there and it took ages for anyone to respond.
“There was a bit of a gap in the services at the time. Since the ‘70s, Formula 1 has had a medical car chasing the field, and it's principally because at the start of a race, all the cars are bunched up together.
"There's a much higher risk of car to car contact at the start of a race, and particularly at Turn 1 in for the whole of the first lap. In Supercars, we've always chased the first lap and then we come into pit entry, and then we sit at pit exit to be on standby for any further incidents.
“When we go on standby, we're under the direction of Race Control, because they've got the view of the whole circuit.
"At Supercars events, we try and have a medical intervention vehicle every one and a half kilometres. At Albert Park, there were three other intervention vehicles, which in a really serious incident, they would be sent immediately before the medical car.
“Typically we want to have a response within 30 seconds, which is really incredible, and world class."
