Before reaching the first corner of the 2022 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, several drivers were involved in a hair-raising accident that sparked chaos and led to the red flag and subsequent stoppage of the race.
For a long 20 minutes, Formula 1 did not show any image of the incident despite the fact that from their respective teams they confirmed that Guanyu Zhou, who had taken the worst part, was conscious and had been transferred to the medical center, along with Alexander Albon, another of those affected by the multiple impact.
Once the good condition of both drivers was confirmed, the FOM showed the first images of one of the worst accidents that are remembered in the modern era of the highest category of motorsport, with Zhou ‘s Alfa Romeo traveling many meters upside down, hitting the protections and ending up face down between the tire barrier and the fence that separates the track from the fans at Silverstone.
Video: this was the multiple accident at the start of the 2022 F1 British GP:
In the images you can see how before reaching the first turn, Pierre Gasly is in a sandwich, with George Russell on the right and Guanyu Zhou on the left. The AlphaTauri driver lightly touched the left rear of the Mercedes and it lost control of its car, impacting quite roughly with the Chinese driver’s Alfa Romeo, which was catapulted and landed upside down.
Due to the location of Zhou ‘s car, the stewards took longer than usual to be able to evacuate the driver and also to remove the car, causing the race to be stopped for almost an hour.
The accident quickly passed into the hands of the stewards, who after judging the images of the different impacts, made the decision to declare it a “race incident”, for which no driver received a sanction.
Through their social networks, the category itself called for calm and confirmed that both Zhou and Albon were fully conscious and without serious physical damage. Finally, the race resumed without the presence of these two drivers plus Russell .
