F1 2022: Great Britain
A record 400,000 fans attended Silverstone across the four days of events this weekend. What a whirlwind of entertainment they were treated to. Let’s just skip to Sunday.
A big crash at the start of the F2 race saw Hauger and Nissany spectacularly come together, with the Halo device almost definitely saving Nissany’s life. One of the many talking points here were the so-called ‘sausage kerbs’: raised, rounded kerbs designed to help police track limits. Hauger was forced wide off the track and onto grass, rendering his car completely out of control. He then went over the sausage kerb which acted like a ramp, and then landed directly on top of Nissany’s car, coming at him from a right angle. If it wasn’t for the Halo device above Nissany’s head, Hauger’s car would have made contact with Nissany’s helmet first. There were many in opposition to the Halo devices when they were first introduced, but another life was certainly saved by it today. The sausage kerbs have been the cause of a few spectacular incidents to date: most notably when I was at the Italian Grand Prix back in 2019, there was a huge crash involving F3 driver Alex Peroni, where his car landed upside down on the catch fence after driving over a sausage kerb. Thankfully, Peroni walked away from the crash. If you want to watch the video below to see the risk involved with these kerbs, here’s Peroni’s crash from 2019:
Back to this weekend at Silverstone. The grid order was somewhat jumbled after Saturday’s qualifying, with some drivers starting quite drastically out of their usual position. It was barely meters into lap one when there were multiple incidents on the grid straight. Contact from Russell with Zhou (8th and 9th on the grid) was the main incident, with the knock on effect of braking and evasive action felt further down the pack. Russell attempted a move on Gasly, Gasly touched Russell who the touched Zhou. Zhou’s wheel essentially drove over Russell’s wheel, elevating him into the air, flipping his car onto it’s roof, bouncing along the gravel and then, quite unbelievably, over the top of the tyre barrier, landing between the barrier and the catch fence. Russell obviously realised the severity of the incident, stopping his car and jumping out to get assistance to Zhou. He was stuck upside down in a tight space between the barrier and the fence, with the marshals unable to commence the rescue procedure as quickly as they would usually. While upside down, Zhou had skidded along the track and gravel trap with the car resting on it’s Halo. The second time in the same weekend that the Halo had 100% remained intact, relieving the pressure of the car from the driver’s head. Had it not been for the Halo, again, the outcome would have been unthinkable. Zhou was taken to the medical centre while the race continued after the initial stoppage, and was seen walking around the paddock before the race conclusion. Another example of the safety mechanisms available in the cars today.
Further down the grid order, Albon was involved in a heavy shunt as other drivers tried to avoid Zhou’s flying chassis. Albon was transferred to Coventry Hospital for further checks, but also was given the all clear later in the afternoon.
This weekend was not really about the result. Carlos Sainz actually got his first race win this weekend (after his first ever pole position in F1), but this was massively overshadowed by the racing incidents. Most importantly, everyone walked away unscathed, and in fact all drivers will probably be racing again this coming weekend in Austria. The safety advances in F1 are quite unbelievable.
