Gelael fractures vertebra, to miss F2 sprint race at Barcelona

Sean Gelael has been ruled out of the FIA Formula 2 sprint race in Barcelona after suffering a fracture of a vertebra following an incident during Saturday’s feature race.

The DAMS driver was taken to hospital after failing to finish F2’s feature race in Barcelona on Saturday, with Gelael grounding to a halt and unable to get out of his car unaided.

Gelael was helped out of his DAMS car by the medical team and was then transferred to a nearby hospital, where he was diagnosed with a “small fracture of a vertebra”.

A statement from the DAMS squad confirmed Gelael had been involved in an incident on the final lap with Campos Racing’s Jack Aitken, though the clash was not picked up by the TV cameras.

“Following an incident on the final lap of the Barcelona Feature Race with Campos Racing’s Jack Aitken, Sean Gelael’s car went airbone and landed hard,” an F2 statement read.

“The Medical Car was deployed to extract the Indonesian driver who was then transferred by ambulance to Hospital General De Granollers for precautionary checks.

“Following an MRI scan yesterday evening, a small fracture of a vertebra was identified. He was released from the hospital last night and is expected to make a full recovery, however as a precaution, has been declared unfit to race today by the FIA Medical Delegate.”

In an Instagram post from his hospital bed, Gelael said: “Hi Guys, thanks for all the kind messages. I’m all ok, i have a D4 mid spine Fracture. We will wait and see what the future will bring. Thank you.”

The F2 sprint race gets underway at 11:10 local time (10.10 BST) at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with Felipe Drugovich starting on reverse grid pole position.