Grand Prix Drivers’ Association chairman Alex Wurz has called on the FIA to make further Formula 1 safety improvements following the British Grand Prix start accident in which the rear rollover bar appeared to fail on Zhou Guanyu’s car.
Zhou’s Alfa Romeo was pitched upside down by contact with George Russell’s Mercedes and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly before the first corner at Silverstone, shooting over the run-off on its rollhoop before hitting a tyre barrier, flying over it and into fencing, then dropping into a gap between the fence and the barrier.
On Tuesday evening, Wurz – who has been GPDA chairman since 2014 – took to social media to ask FIA president to Mohammed Ben Sulayem to “please check your inbox” about the need for action in response to the accident.
Wurz cited the prompt response of the FIA following Pedro Diniz’s crash at the European Grand Prix in 1999, when his Sauber barrel-rolled following contact from Wurz’s Benetton.
The rollhoop failed on Diniz’s Sauber on that occasion, prompting stricter strength tests to be implemented.
That year, the clearance area above the driver’s helmet between the front and rear rollover bars was also increased from 50mm to 70mm.
“Last time (as far as i remember) an F1 roll hub collapsing was with Pedro Diniz, Nurburgring ’99 (jumping over me),” said Wurz.
Last time (as far as i remember) an @F1 roll hub collapsing was with Pedro Diniz, Nurburgring 99 (jumping over me 🙈) This led to stricter crash tests, requested by GPDA, swiftly executed/ implemented by @FIA . Dear Mister President pls check your inbox, we got (more) work to do pic.twitter.com/IsxIg7D209
— alex wurz (@alex_wurz) July 5, 2022
“This led to stricter crash tests, requested by GPDA, swiftly executed/implemented by @fia. Dear Mr President please check your inbox, we got (more) work to do.”
Any accident the nature of Zhou’s automatically gets investigated by the FIA and entered into the World Accident Database without the need for it to be ordered by Ben Sulayem.
Alfa Romeo’s Xevi Pujolar also said that the team had started its own “internal procedure” into investigating the crash on Sunday evening.
