The British GP was red-flagged with Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo flipped upside down and hurtling over the circuit’s safety barrier.
The British GP was red-flagged with Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo flipped upside down and hurtling over the circuit’s safety barrier.
Carlos Sainz claimed his maiden Formula One win on his 150th start in a thrilling British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday.
The Ferrari driver kept his cool to beat Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes.
World champion Max Verstappen finished seventh but retained the series lead in a race marred by a multi-car pile up at the opening corner.
“I don’t know what to say, it’s amazing. First race win 150 races later with Ferrari in Silverstone, it’s a very special day,” said Sainz, who won from pole.
Behind Sainz there was an epic battle closing laps battle between Perez, Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
For Hamilton this was his 11th race without victory, the seven-time champion’s longest losing sequence.
Hamilton, who paid tribute to the 130,000 fans, said: “I was in amongst that battle but the upgrade we brought here made us closer to them.”
This 10th round of the 22-race season began with carnage at the first corner after a horror crash with Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo flipped upside down and hurtling over the circuit’s safety barrier.
George Russell’s Mercedes, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and the Williams of Alex Albon were also involved.
Zhou escapes serious injury after multi-car smash at Silverstone
Earlier, the British Grand Prix was red-flagged after a horror opening-corner multi-car smash, with Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo flipped upside down and hurtling over the circuit’s safety barrier.
As Max Verstappen pipped pole sitter Carlos Sainz to the first corner there was “carnage” behind with marshalls rushing to Zhou trapped in his stricken car.
George Russell’s Mercedes, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and the Williams of Alex Albon were also involved.
Zhou’s car was catapulted upside down, the Chinese rookie’s head saved by his car’s roll hoop-halo as it skidded off across a gravel trap and over tyre barriers into the catch fencing, where it bounced back to finish semi-upright in a stationary position.
Detailed replays of the accident were not available immediately until Zhou had been rescued from his car.
He was attended by emergency evacuation medical crews and lifted out, transferred on to a stretcher and taken by ambulance to the circuit medical centre.
Albon was also taken to the medical centre before being transferred to Coventry Hospital by helicopter for further precautionary tracks.
The sport’s ruling body the International Motoring Federation (FIA) advised that both drivers were conscious and were being checked over and evaluated.
They later announced that Zhou was “in good health and has left the medical centre”.
The normal speed for Formula One cars in that part of the circuit is around 240 kph.
In re-runs of the start, it appeared that Russell, starting eighth, moved to his right after a poor start and collided with Zhou’s Alfa Romeo as the pair strove to stay ahead of Pierre Gasly.
This triggered Zhou’s wild excursion off-circuit and dragged other cars into further less serious multiple collisions around them.
In a separate additional announcement, the FIA confirmed also that several protestors had tried to run on to the circuit following the red flag.