F1 DRIVER Mark Webber raced into Watford General this week to open the hospital’s new intensive care unit and offer his view on Britain’s new sporting darling.

The Australian racing star made the short journey from his Buckinghamshire home on Wednesday afternoon to join staff for the opening of the new, state-of-the-art ICU at the Vicarage Road hospital.

The ultra-modern unit was opened two months ago when the contents of the old department were transferred into the bright new facility.

The old ICU will now undergo a similar face-lift before reopening in November, both combining to create one of the biggest and most sophisticated intensive care units in the region.

Having cut the ribbon and been given a tour of the hospital, Mark said it had been “a pleasure” to have opened the unit.

“I’ve done a lot of things in hospitals in Australia and with kids with illnesses and obviously this one is on my doorstep so it is easy for me to come and have a look at some of the great work going on.”

The hospital managed to secure Mark’s services after a staff member pulled in a favour with his Milton Keynes-based race team, Red Bull.

However, the 32-year-old driver said he was thrilled to keep up-to-date with the latest medical advances.

He added: “It is great to see how technology moves on because you never know when you are going to be in the situation of needing a hospital.

“It is nice to see there are so many good people out there to help you recover.”

The new 19-bed ICU will be fully opened in November. Inside, each bed is fitted with a new over-hanging “beam”, which is fitted to the ceiling and powers each piece of life-saving machinery.

It means loose and potentially dangerous cables are a thing of the past and allows more doctors to get around the bed.

All the curtains are also disposable to help minimalise the threat of dangerous infections.

Acting matron Sarah Lafbery said staff and patients had already settled into the new unit, which is happily now blessed with natural light.

“We have windows, which we never had before so we can see if it is night or day now. The transformation has been so dramatic and staff morale has doubled.”

Chief executive of West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust, Jan Filochowski, added: “It is a beautiful new unit, it is spacious, it has state-of-the-art fittings and it is an increase in size from 12 to 19 beds so it means we can cater for all the intensive care needs for the local population.”