At the start of the Silverstone F1 race, we saw a huge crash involving several cars. The biggest hit was seen between George Russell and Guanyu Zhou.
17:36•Updated 17:56
The tenth round of the Formula One season at Silverstone got off to a really dramatic start. The reigning world champion who started from the second grid and leads the World Series Max Verstappen who started from the pole passed the top Carlos Sainz.
But at the same time, something happened behind. The TV pictures only showed one of the Alfa Romeo cars sliding upside down on the track. That was it Valtteri Bottas about a Chinese teammate From Guanyu Zhou.
The red flags stopped the race immediately and the drivers returned to the pit.
As in similar situations, television footage of Zhou or his car was not shown until it was confirmed that the driver was OK. This took a long time, but the Viaplay broadcast already said that the driver should be fine, but just stuck in his upside down car.
In addition to Zhou, the Mercedes remained in the crash on the side of the track George Russell and Williams Alexander Albon.
AlphaTaurin Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine Esteban Ocon were able to make it to the pit, but the cars had suffered extensive damage.
Finally, more than ten minutes after the start, the audience erupted into thunderous applause when Zhou was lifted from the car and he was taken on a stretcher to be examined. It was reported on Viaplay that Zhou was able to wave to the crowd and Alfa Romeo had also said that he was fine.
– After the collision at the beginning of the British GP, Zhou Guanyu is conscious and is now being evaluated at the track’s medical center, Alfa Romeo tweeted.
Shortly afterwards, the Alfa Romeo team told Bottas on the team radio that Zhou was doing well considering the situation. The team radio said Zhou is talking and has no fractures.
The 23-year-old Zhou is the first Chinese driver in the F1 series. His best finish in his debut season is eighth place in the last race in Canada.
When the TV broadcast finally showed slow-motion footage of the crash, it became clear how wild the situation really was. Zhou’s car slid upside down on the side of the track, through the sand area and bounced over the tire barriers. In this situation, the cameramen were also in the danger zone.
It became clear from the slowdowns that Mercedes’ George Russell, who had a weak start, first slightly collided with AlphaTaur’s Pierre Gaslyn with. From Gasly’s car, Russell seemed to spin towards the right rear tire of Zhou’s car. With that, Zhou’s car took off.
The competition is still suspended, but will continue with a restart once the situation has been resolved. Urheilu follows the events of the Silverstone F1 race in this article.