‘The Halo saved me’ says Zhou Guanyu after his Alfa Romeo flips in horrifying British GP crash

Zhou Guanyu has escaped a horrifying crash at the first corner of the British Grand Prix, when his Alfa Romeo was hit by George Russell’s Mercedes and flipped. It skidded upside down across the gravel, dug in and was launched over the tyre barrier into the catch fence.

The Chinese driver was then trapped for several minutes as his car was trapped between the fence and the tyres, but was extracted conscious and talking.

He was then taken to Silverstone’s medical centre where he was declared fit and well around 90 minutes after the crash.

“It was a big crash and I’m glad I’m ok,” said Zhou. “The marshals and the medical team at the track were fantastic with their quick response.

”I also owe my thanks to the FIA and Formula 1 for all the work they have done, and they keep doing, to improve the safety of our cars: the Halo saved me today, and it goes to show that every step we take in improving our cars has real, valuable results.

“I’m keener than ever to get back on track and do what I love: I’m fit and I’m looking forward to Austria next week.”

At the same time as Zhou’s crash, another collision further down the field saw Alex Albon shunted into the wall and then spun across the circuit where he hit two other cars. After being transferred to the medical centre, he was taken to Coventry hospital for precautionary checks and discharged later in the evening

The race was stopped as soon as the crash took place, which thwarted protestors who had invaded the circuit.

The drama unfolded within seconds of the lights going out at Silverstone when Russell, starting eighth on hard tyres was slow to gain momentum.

He was running alongside Zhou’s Alfa Romeo when Pierre Gasly, from 11th on the grid, looked to slot his AlphaTauri in the space between the two cars.

Russell moved to his left to close the gap, but Gasly’s front tyres were already level and they slewed the Mercedes sideways. It slid into Zhou’s Alfa Romeo, sending the car skywards, flipping in mid-air and landing on its roll hoop and halo.

It skidded at pace into the gravel, digging in and was flung up into the catch fence, where it became wedged in the gap with the tyre barrier.

Russell sprinted from his own car and leapt on to the tyre barrier to check on Zhou before medical teams arrived.

Meanwhile, Bottas had slowed as the two cars spun out of control; Alex Albon behind hit the brakes and an unsighted Sebastian Vettel shunted into the rear of the Williams, sending it spinning into the pitwall and then back across the grid where he collided with Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda.

Russell’s car was recovered to the pits, meaning that the Mercedes driver was not allowed to take the restart. He was seen protesting to FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer that he had in fact stopped to help Zhou, rather than his car being too damaged to continue.

He later said that he had asked marshalls to leave his car when he went to check on Zhou, but that it had been lifted on to a flatbed truck when he returned.

The Brackley mechanics were seen attempting to fix the car as the team debated the point with the FIA, but to no avail.

As cars returned to the pitlane following the crashes, anti-oil protestors invaded the circuit, but most cars had stopped by that point. Ahead of the race,  Northants police announced that they had “intelligence” that a protest was planned.

The race restarted almost an hour after the initial start in the original qualifying order because it had been stopped so soon after the lights had gone out.