Zhou Guanyu car flipped upside down & hurtled over circuit’s safety barrier, Photos

Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone was called off after a horrible crash in the first corner that involved several cars. The Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu was flipped over and went flying over the safety barrier.

As Max Verstappen beat pole-sitter Carlos Sainz into the first turn, there was “carnage” behind them, and marshals rushed to help Zhou, whose car had broken down and was stuck.

The Mercedes of George Russell, the Alpine cars of Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri), and Alex Albon’s Williams were also involved.

Zhou’s car was flipped over, but the rookie Chinese driver’s head was saved by the car’s roll hoop-halo as it skidded across a gravel trap, over tyre barriers, and into the catch fencing, where it bounced back to stop half-upright.

Before Zhou was pulled out of his car, there were no replays of the accident that showed what happened in detail.

He was helped by emergency evacuation medical teams who lifted him out, put him on a stretcher, and drove him to the circuit medical centre in an ambulance.

Albon was also taken to the medical centre before he was flown by helicopter to Coventry Hospital for more tests.

The International Motoring Federation (FIA), which is in charge of the sport, said that both drivers were awake and being checked out.

Later, they said that Zhou was “in good health and has left the medical centre” and that he had left the hospital.

In that part of the track, Formula One cars usually go about 240 kph.

When the start was played back, it looked like Russell, who started eighth, moved to the right after a bad start and hit Zhou’s Alfa Romeo as they tried to stay ahead of Pierre Gasly.

This caused Zhou to go off the road in a crazy way, which pulled other cars into smaller accidents around them.

In a separate announcement, the FIA also said that after the red flag, several protesters had tried to run onto the track.

“We also confirm that after the red flag, several people attempted to enter the track,” the statement said. “These people were immediately removed and the matter is now being dealt with by the local authorities.”

After the crash, everyone went back to the pits while a team of experts worked on Zhou, who stayed in his car until he was lifted out.

After the accident, other drivers, like Russell, got out of their cars to help Zhou.

After the accident, all of the teams were working quickly to fix their damaged cars so they could start again.

In a radio statement, Alfa Romeo said: “Zhou is conscious, he is talking, there are no fractures. Considering the circumstances, he is pretty good, pretty well.”

This was not the first time that the “halo” device helped keep a driver from getting seriously hurt in a crash. Roy Nissany lived after another car driven by Dennis Hauger landed on top of his cockpit, but he would have been badly hurt without the “halo.” Both of them got out of there without getting hurt.

After almost an hour of waiting, the race started again in the same order as before. Zhou, Albon, and Russell had to leave the race, so there were only 17 cars on the grid.

In contrast to the first start, Sainz was able to hold off Verstappen until the first turn. The Spaniard is looking for his first F1 win in his 150th race after getting his first pole position.

Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP

Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP

Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP

Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP

Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP

Also Read

Guanyu Zhou signs for Alfa Romeo, becomes China’s first F1 driver

Guanyu Zhou will become China's first ever Formula One driver after Alfa Romeo announced...