George Russell, Mercedes Formula 1 driver, claims his reaction to the dreadful crash of Zhou Guanyu at Silvestone was only “a human reaction” rather than “a racing driver reaction.”
They collided at start of the British Grand Prix before reaching turn 1. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri driver, tapped Russell who crashed into Zhou. The Alfa Romeo flipped and rolled through the gravel trap and sliding into barriers.
Car came to rest after crashing into tyre barriers. It flown into the space between overlooking grand stand and protection fence.
Zhou remain trapped in the wreckage while being attended by marshals, accompanied by F1 medical intervention team. Russell stopped his damaged W3 car in the runoff area in order to help Zhou. He climbed form wreckage and went to help the recovery crew.
Russell reflection of the accident
Russell reflected on the incident in an interview covering his debut season with Mercedes F1 team. He shared his thoughts at the time of the season.
The British driver said: “When you see an incident like this, at the end of the day, there are only 20 Formula 1 drivers, and you know how it feels inside that cockpit.
“Wearing three layers of clothing and helmet, gloves and boots, with a radio plug-in, with a drink bottle in your mouth – it’s quite claustrophobic.
“When you see a car flying through the air, and land in a position, which is essentially trapped. That’s a pretty horrendous place to be in.
“I was out of the race and when you are out of the race, your first thought is ‘can I help him in a way?’
“I guess, if I was in that position, I would want every single bit of help as soon as possible. Because you don’t know what is going to happen next, the car’s going on fire or what not.
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“So, I guess that was probably more of a human reaction as opposed to a racing driver reaction.”
The crash caused the red flag which lasted for an hour. The F1 rookie was rescued and escorted to the Silverstone medical centre. He was declared fit and released after the checks.
Both drivers could not restart the race after the incident. Alex Albon also visited the hospital and had to retire from the race. Eventually, race finished with the Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz as winner of the day.
