A chilling image. Guanyu Zhou suffered a serious accident at the start of the British Grand Prix on Sunday July 3 at Silverstone. The contact involved Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri), sandwiched between George Russell (Mercedes) and the Chinese Alfa Romeo. The Mercedes driver’s car came to touch that of the Frenchman, before colliding and tipping Zhou’s single-seater.
The extremely impressive images of Guanyu Zhou’s crash at the start of the #BritishGP
The pilot is fine #BritishGP | ▶️ https://t.co/t7uFs3yVeh pic.twitter.com/lTtvCw9qbV
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) July 3, 2022
After long minutes of waiting, thethe car was back on its wheels, before the medical services come to extract the pilot, then evacuated by ambulance to the medical center. “Guanyu Zhou is Conscious”, communicated the Alfa Romeo team on its Twitter account. The FIA was then reassuring: the 23-year-old driver is not suffering “major injury”.
At the end of the afternoon, the Chinese driver finally gave his news. “I’m fine, everything is in order. The halo saved me today”he wrote on Twitter.
I’m ok, all clear. Halo saved me today. Thank you everyone for your kind messages! pic.twitter.com/OylxoJC4M0
— 周冠宇 | Zhou Guanyu (@ZhouGuanyu24) July 3, 2022
“It’s one of the worst accidents I’ve had. I’m glad to know he’s okay”reacted George Russell, forced to give up, at the microphone of Canal +.
Another pile-up involved the cars of Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and Alexander Albon (Williams). The latter was also taken to the medical center, before being transported as a precaution to Coventry hospital for further examinations, the FIA said. The Thai driver shared his news on social networks at the start of the evening, giving an appointment in Austria for the next race.
All ok, the pets are ok but more importantly I’m glad @ZhouGuanyu24 is ok! Thank you to the medical staff and for all the messages. Eyes already on Austria pic.twitter.com/15PI86Iooz
— Alex Albon (@alex_albon) July 3, 2022