Alfa Romeo said they were expecting crash for Zhou ahead of British GP

Multiple drivers were involved in the frightening crash at the start of the 2022 British Grand Prix.

Zhou Guanyu is okay and uninjured after the scary crash at the start of the 2022 British Grand Prix on Sunday.

Off the start of the race, George Russell and Zhou converged on the front of Pierre Gasly’s car, and the Briton was sent into the back of the Alfa Romeo, sending the Chinese driver flipping towards the gravel trap.

The front wheel of the car dug into the gravel bed and flipped onto the top of the barrier on the exit of Abbey, before he landed at the bottom of the protective fence.

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In an attempt to avoid the chaos in front of him, Albon braked, which left Sebastian Vettel with nowhere to go but into the back of the Williams.

The 26-year-old spun off into the wall, before sliding back across the track into Esteban Ocon, before hitting the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.

Both Albon and Zhou took quite the whack as their cars came to a stop, but Zhou clambered out of his car and walked into the ambulance to be taken to the hospital.

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He was checked out and is all okay, while Albon was taken to the medical centre for some further precautionary checks.

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The fact that they both walked away was testament to the safety advancements over the decades in the pinnacle of motorsport.

The non-finish was the fourth of the year for the 23-year-old, whose Sauber team manager Beat Zehnder said ahead of the weekend that a crash was inevitable at some stage.

“Normally with rookies, you always have to reckon with one or two crashes but Zhou makes practically no mistakes,” he conceded.

“Experience tells us that there has to be a crash at some point, but that’s also part of the learning process.”

Russell tried to negotiate his way back into the race with an FIA official, but the damage incurred meant that he could not legally re-join proceedings.