Peter Sauber, founder and former leader of the Swiss Sauber team, now competing in the World Championship as Alfa Romeo, has seen many accidents in his long career in Formula 1, but what happened at the start of the British Grand Prix, just shocked him.
After contact with George Russell’s Mercedes, Guanyu Zhou’s car jumped into the air, rolled over and continued at high speed towards Turn 1, before crossing the gravel safety zone, hitting the tire barrier, flying over it and finally between two rows of gates .
“In my opinion, the photo was scary. Zhou could not be removed from the cockpit until the car was lifted with a crane. Imagine what could happen if a fire suddenly started! – quotes the words of the 78-year-old Sauber newspaper Blick. – If you look at it through the eyes of the rider himself, it is even more serious, because he is not at all to blame for being in such a situation.
From the start of the season, Zhou flies very well, makes almost no mistakes and is mainly hampered by technical problems. Moreover, he usually works in such a way that there is not a single scratch on his car!
To date, there has not been a single case where an accident involving a Formula 1 driver driving Hinwil-built cars has resulted in tragic consequences. But this time we were probably helped by all our guardian angels at once!”
In memory of Peter Sauber there were three worst accidents that could end in a real drama, but the worst was avoided.
On May 12, 1994, just 11 days after the death of Ayrton Senna, Sauber driver Karl Wendlinger lost control of his car during a practice session at the Monaco circuit. At a speed of 177 km/h she crashed into a fence in the chicane at the exit of the tunnel. The Austrian was in a coma for 19 days, but had no fractures, and eventually recovered and returned to motorsport.
On May 12, 2002, at the Austrian Grand Prix, Nick Heidfeld lost control of the Sauber C21 before Remus turned off the track at Spielberg. At less than 200 mph, his car flipped over, flew off the track, crossed the side of the road and then crashed into Takuma Sato’s Jordan. Both riders escaped with only bruises and scrapes.
On June 10, 2007, at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Robert Kubica fought Toyota driver Jarno Trulli, but the cars were in contact. The Pole’s Sauber was swept to the side of the road, she lost her front wing, flew into the air, hit the guardrails on the right side of the track, ricocheted, rolled over, crossed the track and crashed into the left bump stop.
“Robert spent one night in hospital and on Monday he drove me to a restaurant in a rental car, where we had lunch!” Zauber remembers.
A decision by the FIA forced Kubica to miss the race, but this allowed Sebastian Vettel to make his debut in Formula 1 and already in his first race (US Grand Prix), the future four-time world champion opened the scoring with points earned.
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
