On the evening of July 3rd, Beijing time, the 2022 F1 British Grand Prix officially started. However, at the first corner after the start, Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu had an accident.
At that time, Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo car was driving normally, but the two cars next to it got scratched while fighting for the line. Among them, Mercedes driver Russell's car spun and hit him. The right rear side of Zhou Guanyu's car caused Zhou Guanyu's car to fly up.
then reversed and slid out of the track. In this state, it slid all the way from the track and hit the fence on the side of the field. This was not enough to stop the car. The huge impact caused the car to roll over the fence and get stuck in the narrow space between the stands. inside.
At that time, in the stand closest to the accident, the audience began to scream in panic, and everyone was sweating for Zhou Guanyu.
After the accident, the competition team waved the red flag to suspend the game and immediately carried out rescue. Zhou Guanyu was then carried on a stretcher by the medical team and staff and sent to the track medical center.
As the "culprit" Russell, after the accident, he immediately climbed out of his car and ran in the direction of Zhou Guanyu's car to observe Zhou Guanyu's situation. He was responsible for the consequences of his mistakes. Zhou Guanyu’s accident and expressed remorse.
Afterwards, Russell said: "This was definitely a terrible accident. We chose to take the risk of starting on the hard tire because I made a mistake in qualifying and the starting position was not ideal. I think this risk can bring us There was a chance. But the hard tires had no grip at the start, and the temperature was very low. After starting, I was surrounded by cars next to me, and then I was hit. I was next to Zhou Guanyu, and this was the situation..."
Evening of July 3 , F1 The official Weibo of the World Formula One Championship announced that Zhou Guanyu is now conscious and is undergoing relevant evaluation at the tournament medical center.
html In the early morning of July 4, good news came from the UK. Zhou Guanyu reported to everyone that he was safe through personal social media.
He said: "I'm fine. I'm lucky to still be here. Halo saved me today. Thank you everyone for your concern for me."
And not long after, Zhou Guanyu returned to the FI racing scene again. He and the F1 CEO Domenicali said: "When I was in the car, I was waiting for the last impact, because I knew that was the most serious one. After the final impact, I was actually awake the whole time, so I said My problem is not big."
It may be a blessing among misfortunes that Zhou Guanyu is safe, and the Halo he mentioned is indeed his "savior."
So, what is this Halo?
As we all know, the F1 racing car is different from other racing cars. The biggest feature is the completely open cockpit design. The driver’s head is exposed. Coupled with the extremely high speed, it will bring great safety to the driver. Hidden danger.
Therefore, F1 is known as one of the most dangerous sports in the world. There have been many serious accidents in history. Once an accident occurs, it will be the biggest hidden danger to the driver's safety.
In 2014, French driver Julius Bianchi hit a rescue crane at Turn 7 of the Suzuka Circuit in Japan. Although he was rescued immediately, unfortunately, after 9 months, he was rescued. After falling into coma, he still died at the age of 26.
After that serious accident, in order to further improve the safety of F1 racing cars, the FIA summoned the managers and technical directors of each F1 team to discuss countermeasures.
Until 2016, FIA technical officials replaced the installation position of the shield system with a "Halo" system device.
The so-called HALO is actually a 50 mm diameter titanium alloy structure located in front of the driver's cockpit, and is connected to the body through three points. It weighs 7 kg, but can withstand a vertical load of 116 kN and a load of 46 kN. Lateral impact. The application of
Halo system has transformed the once open racing cockpit into a semi-enclosed one with higher safety. Compared with the seemingly safest fully enclosed car cabin, the Halo system can not only avoid visual distortion caused by the windshield to the driver, but also provide the driver with maximum head protection.
In January 2017, when the F1 official tested the Halo system, a simulated man wearing a helmet was placed in the Halo ring, and then pushed a 20 kilogram Pirelli tire , hitting the Halo ring at a speed of 225 kilometers per hour.
The test results showed that Halo did not undergo any deformation and the simulator remained intact.
There is a more vivid metaphor in the official description of F1 - bearing the weight of a double-decker bus .
Everyone is opposed to Halo
In 2018, F1 officially announced that all F1 cars must be equipped with the Halo system. HALO was introduced into F1 starting from the 2018 season. However, there was all opposition at the beginning. Many drivers listed four major shortcomings.
First, because HALO adds 7 kilograms of weight, and because of the appearance design, it affects the stability of the vehicle's center of gravity and chassis endurance, which increases the cost of debugging and research and development of each team. After all, as an F1 racing car, it does not add one kilogram of weight. , will change the entire racing system.
Secondly, from an aerodynamic point of view, HALO changes the airflow of the car when the car is running at high speed, especially the airflow at the rear wing, which seriously affects the acceleration ability of the car.
Third, one of the sides of the HALO system device is right in front of the driver, which does have a certain impact on the driver's field of vision, because at a speed of several hundred kilometers per hour, even a 0.1 second reaction time will affect the performance. It has a great impact, so many riders think that the better the vision, the faster they can react.
Fourth, installing HALO can indeed protect the driver to a certain extent, but at the same time, it also has disadvantages, because after an accident, the car may spontaneously ignite or explode at any time, and the HALO system will give the driver more time to escape from the cockpit. Increase, which is undoubtedly the reason why many riders love and hate it.
Due to the above four shortcomings, many drivers began to complain about HALO. Everyone expressed their unaccustomedness to HALO. Some drivers even said: "Since installing HALO, I feel that I am not competing in F1. If If I have the chance, I would like to use a saw to cut off HALO. "
Although HALO was opposed by the drivers, the F1 official still insisted on this decision. He requires that all F1 events must install HALO devices. Riders must adapt to this safety device as quickly as possible.
Faced with the official rigid requirements, many riders had to accept it, but mentally they still rejected HALO. It was not until several subsequent accidents that they completely changed their views on HALO.
From opposition to praise
But since the introduction of HALO into F1 in the 2018 season, Halo has saved many racing drivers in many near-fatal incidents:
First, 2018 season, F1 Belgian Grand Prix, Leclerc His car was hit by another car, and he was protected from life-threatening injuries by Halo.
Second, 2020 season, F1 Bahrain Grand Prix, The car driven by Romain Grosjean suddenly lost control and hit the isolation guardrail. The cockpit ignited a fire, and the car was also broken into two parts, but HALO is the strongest on the entire body. There was no damage to the part, the rider only suffered broken ribs and minor burns.
Gross was once a driver who strongly opposed Halo. After the accident, he was able to escape death with only minor injuries. He told reporters: "HALO is the greatest invention."
No. 3. In the 2021 season, F1 Italian Grand Prix , Hamilton collided with Verstappen . Verstappen's car was pushed into the air by Hamilton's car, and then fell hard to the ground. If not With the Halo system, Hamilton's life would definitely be in danger.
Since these incidents on the track, everyone has acknowledged the importance of the Halo system to motorsport.
China's first F1 racing driver
Zhou Guanyu, born in 1999, is from Shanghai. He was very interested in racing when he was a child. Due to his good family conditions, his parents sent him to the UK when he was 12 years old. Study abroad and joined the local karting school.
12-year-old Zhou Guanyu said: "The top racing drivers are all in the UK. I went to the UK just to compete with the best young racing drivers."
Although at the beginning, he was often excluded and was not favored by everyone, but With his own talent and hard work, Zhou Guanyu stood out from a group of teenagers and slowly made his way in the European karting world, gaining the respect he deserved.
During the three years he drove karts in Europe, he successively won the annual championship in the All-American Championship, All-England Championship and European Championship in the 14-17 year old category.
In a few years, he upgraded from karting to F4 and then to F3. In the 2017 season, Zhou Guanyu scored a total of 55 points in the F3 field and was on the podium 5 times.
At that time, this result had surpassed his teammate Mick Schumacher , the son of the car king Mike Schumacher who currently drives for the Haas team .
On August 1, 2020, Zhou Guanyu finished second in the first round of the F2 British Grand Prix, becoming the first Chinese driver to win the F2 runner-up; on September 27 of the same year, at the 2020 FIA F2 Championship in Sochi, Russia , Zhou Guanyu won his first F2 championship, setting the highest record for Chinese racing.
On November 16, 2021, the Alfa Romeo Racing F1 team officially announced that Zhou Guanyu will become the official driver of the team in the 2022 season. Zhou Guanyu has become the first official Formula One driver in Chinese history and will compete in the 2022 F1 World Championship.
At this point, Zhou Guanyu became the first F1 racing driver in Chinese history, and the first driver to be officially qualified to participate in F1 competitions throughout the year.
Fans who know about racing all know that becoming an F1 driver is more difficult than reaching the sky. There is a prerequisite for entering the F1 arena, which is to first pass the super driver's license level. Drivers need to get 40 super license points in F2 or F3 events to get the key to enter the F1 hall.
You can imagine how difficult it is for Zhou Guanyu to become an official F1 racing driver after years of hard work. In this F1 British Grand Prix, Zhou Guanyu performed well and entered Q3 again in qualifying. The 9th place was also the best qualifying position in his career.
But yesterday at the start of the race, Zhou Guanyu encountered a serious racing accident.
After the accident, Russell, who had collided with him, stopped the car immediately and rushed to check on Zhou Guanyu's condition. After withdrawing from the game, Russell wrote on social media, "This was a terrible accident and the most important thing is that Guanyu Zhou is fine."
After being rescued, Zhou Guanyu regained consciousness and was rushed to the track medical center. After confirming that there was no problem, Zhou Guanyu returned to the team. After the game, he returned to the paddock and met with F1 CEO Domenicali Brief communication.
Finally, I hope Zhou Guanyu can continue to move towards his dream after adjustment.
As the first F1 driver in Chinese history, this is definitely something we should be proud of. I think he is like a man in track and field. Liu Xiang, basketball China's Yao Ming.
Zhou Guanyu, come on
