TORONTO - A horrific crash at Friday practice for the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix miraculously left 21-year-old driver Sebastien Buemi without a scratch.

Buemi was being clocked at more than 300 km/h when his Scuderia Team Rosso car suffered a mechanical failure, sending the Swiss driver and his car hurtling into the tire barriers at Turn 14 of the Shanghai International Circuit.

Buemi hopped out of what was left of the chassis unharmed and ready to return to the track in a new car for Saturday’s qualifying round.

“The track was really wide there, with a lot of run-off,” Buemi said in a statement released by the team. “It looked quite spectacular but from inside the car, it was not so big. Afterward (once the car stopped), it took a bit of time to understand what happened, but it was not too bad.”

A failure of a new front upright design introduced for this weekend’s race was the cause of the accident. Why it failed has yet to be established.

dean.mcnulty@sunmedia.ca