Ferdinand Habsburg has had a difficult few months. At the end of March, the Austrian had a serious accident during private WEC test drives for Alpine in Aragon. Habsburg broke two lumbar vertebrae and suffered a ruptured disc. As a result, he was out of action for several months. He had to miss the WEC races in Imola and Spa-Francorchamps, as well as two races in the ELMS (European Le Mans Series).
He will only make his comeback in the WEC Hypercar class this weekend at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His debut in the top class of the 24-hour race was preceded by a race against time. Habsburg: “At the beginning I was 100 percent sure that it would work. But then the weeks became pretty tight,” he explained to Motorsport-Magazin.comEven after his bones had healed, doubts remained as to whether Le Mans was coming too soon for him physically.
“The truth was that I hurt my back [zum damaligen Zeitpunkt] “I haven’t trained for two months. It was questionable whether he would be strong enough for the race,” he said. It was only on Tuesday that the 2021 LMP2 class winner received final approval from the FIA to take part in the race after a medical check.
“From the team’s point of view, we made the decision last week,” said Habsburg. Physically, the injuries have now fully healed. Only the lack of training over the last few months is still having a bit of an effect on his back, as the Alpine driver noted. “But just because my back hurts a bit, that won’t stop me from driving to Le Mans.”
Ferdinand Habsburg: Worst accident of my career
“The last few months have been difficult. It was the worst accident of my career so far, and it happened early on in the fastest car I’ve ever driven,” said Habsburg before the WEC highlight at the Sarthe. And that’s saying a lot. He has had a number of major accidents in his career. In 2015, he suffered two fractures in a spectacular accident during a Formula Renault race in Silverstone.
But the test crash in Aragon felt a lot worse: “In this case, I had nothing to do with it. It was not my fault, it was a direct frontal impact.” The health consequences were also serious: “I haven’t spent so much time in the bedroom since I went to school,” he said.
His sister helped him to manage everyday tasks. At times, Habsburg was no longer able to change his socks or get into the shower without help. He also received a lot of support from the team: “They called me practically every day, checked on me and asked when I was back.”
Jules Gounon, who is under contract with Alpine as an official test and reserve driver, jumped into the cockpit as Habsburg’s replacement in Imola and Spa. Without these two events, Habsburg has now made just one start in the Alpine A424. Accordingly, he has little time to get used to the car: “I arrived on test day and felt so lost. Because the car had changed so much and had been improved so much. I needed some time to adapt to it.”
Looking forward to Le Mans: WEC is like a date, Le Mans is like a wedding
But regardless of that, there is still some fine-tuning that his teammates have already been able to do in recent events. Especially with regard to the tires, which are not allowed to be warmed up before being put on the car for the first time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“There are so many situations that I haven’t experienced,” said Habsburg. “The difficulty with the Hypercar is getting the cold tires up to temperature. How do you do that under full-course yellow? How do you keep the tires in the window? And then there are the different tire compounds. The experience with all three and the knowledge of how to deal with them. I lack that,” he explained.
He is really looking forward to Le Mans. How much? Habsburg described it with a humorous comparison: “The WEC is like dating a girl. Le Mans is like marrying the girl.” The ‘wedding’ begins on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Before that, the third free practice session is scheduled for Thursday afternoon and the Hyperpole in the evening. You can find an overview of all sessions and the schedule for the Le Mans 24h here: