Alfa Romeo roll hoop impact exceeded FIA requirements

The C42’s roll hoop was lost early in the Chinese driver’s spectacular accident seconds after the start of the British GP when his car was flipped over after contact with the Mercedes of George Russell.

However, he was protected by the Halo, which remained intact as he skated along the track and into the gravel trap before bouncing over the barriers and coming to a halt.

Speaking to the media for the first time since the crash Zhou talked through the accident and its aftermath at length.

“With that first impact, where it landed on the first flip, the team is still doing an investigation, but I think the first hit was much harder than what they test for the safety test,” he said.

“This was like a few times harder than the actual numbers we want in that. So obviously, that’s probably created the problem that came up straight away.”

Zhou recalled that he’d done his best to avoid any arm or wrist injury as the car slid upside down.

“Obviously when the flip happened the first thing I was trying to do was trying to release my hand off the steering wheel,” he said.

“Because you never know, you can break your wrist very easily with a crash like that.

“And then the next thing I tried to do, while I was just rolling on the ground, I knew I’ll be facing a massive impact coming up, because the car wasn’t stopping. And then I tried to lock myself in a position that is the safest possible, just waiting for that last impact.

“It’s not like I was just holding the hand backwards, but keeping it reasonably in tension, so it doesn’t get flying around when you have that last impact.

“Basically, I was just waiting for the last stop hit. And once I was basically stopped, I didn’t know where I was, because I was upside down.

“The next thing I felt was basically there was leaking. I wasn’t sure if it was from my body, or from the car. So I just tried to switch the engine off, because the engine was still on by then. Because I knew if a fire starts, it will be difficult to get out.

“I didn’t know what happened, who hit me, because I was going straight next to the white line before Turn 1, and then suddenly there was a massive shunt.”

The accident involving Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C42, George Russell, Mercedes W13 at the start of the race

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Zhou was quickly able to signal to a track official that he was okay, before helping…