Injured Senna forced out of dream F3 return in Macau

Bruno Senna was unable to fight for glory at the infamous Macau F3 GP as he was ruled out of today's race following a heavy crash in yesterday's qualification event. It was a big blow for the 24-year-old, who had high hopes of a strong result in his one-off return to Formula Three.

Bruno was competing in the event with his former British F3 team, Double R Racing, and pre-qualified in 18th position. However, after a strong start to Saturday's qualification race, he had battled his way up to seventh position. On lap seven, he was defending his position from Nico Hulkenburg, when the two collided on the entry to Mandarin Bend.

The frightening crash was at some 160kph and sent Bruno's car into the barriers on the right hand side, before flying in the air over Hülkenberg’s right rear tire and finally crashing into the barriers on the left.

Bruno was taken to hospital for checks after complaining of pains in his left hand where medical staff found his left thumb was very badly bruised, enough to prevent him racing today. The car was also badly damaged, and would not have been able to be repaired in time for the race.

Bruno Senna
"I was feeling very sore after yesterday's accident and what happened is very disappointing. I had made a good start in the qualification race and the car was feeling okay. On the lap of my crash I made a mistake at the last corner so Nico got in my slipstream and pulled by the side of me, but didn't get ahead . When we got to Mandarin he just turned into me. It was a very big accident. The doctors found I had a crack in my thumb, and the car was too badly damaged, so the weekend was over for me. It's disappointing because I thought I could get a good result for the team now that I have more experience, and I would have got a good result in the qualification race ready for today."