Why did Guanyu Zhou's roll bar give way at Silverstone?

A week after the fear caused by the accident de Guanyu-Zhou (Alfa Romeo) at the start of the 2022 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, it is time to carry out investigations in order to better understand the circumstances of this crash. The first concern relates to the manner in which the roll bar gave way when the Chinese driver's car overturned.

Indeed, if the Halo absorbed the impact well against the asphalt then on the gravel trap of turn 1, this was not the case with the “roll hoop”. The roll bar including an air intake for the engine flattened as soon as the car was sent upside down against the ground. Images which recalled the worrying accident experienced by the Brazilian Pedro Diniz at the start of the Nürburgring Grand Prix in 1999, as noted Alexander Würz (President of the GPDA) on Twitter:

Last time (as far as I remember) year @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

Frédéric Vasseur, Director of Alfa Romeo in Formula 1, already has some elements of the investigation carried out by the International Automobile Federation (FIA). “The investigation is ongoing and we are sharing all information about the accident with the FIA. The first information is that the impact was twice as strong as the regulatory crash test load. I don't know if you look at the tarmac, but it dug a groove in the asphalt, four or five centimeters. »

The resistance of the arch would therefore not be defective according to the Frenchman. “ No matter how high the crash test is, you can always get a higher shock (in reality). Of course, we will have to act on our own and with the FIA ​​to see how we can improve safety. »

There is no doubt that the governing bodies will be able to learn lessons from this Guanyu Zhou accident, just as they were able to do after the flight of Pedro Diniz at the end of the last century. The crash tests were subsequently already improved.

As for Guanyu Zhou, this antics and the state of the hoop hardly worried him. The Chinese has received the green light to participate in the Austrian Grand Prix from the FIA. The rookie admitted that the first thing he thought about after his accident was whether he could get back behind the wheel for Spielberg. “Honestly, on Sunday evening I was texting my engineers asking if my seat was in good shape. For drivers, seats are very important for comfort and I didn't want to change it. » 

ALSO READ > F1 technical analysis – Guanyu Zhou owes his salvation to Halo