The British Grand Prix was red flagged on its opening lap following a massive crash involving multiple cars at the first corner.
The first tier of the leading group ran through Abbey Corner without any issues, but contact ensued with a second group led by Mercedes' George Russell and Alfa Romeo's Guanyu Zhou.
The Chinese driver's car was overturned in the commotion and darted off into the gravel trap while Russell stopped his damage Mercedes to check out on Zhou.
Alpine's Esteban Ocon, AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda and Williams' Alex Albon were also involved in the crash. Both the former were able to nurse their machine back to the pits, hopefully to have them repaired in time for the race's start.
However, as the field returned to the pits, Silverstone's extraction team was dispatched to where Zhou's Alfa had come to a rest against the barriers, to tend to the Chinese driver.
Zhou was eventually extracted and taken to the circuit's medical center.
Spectator’s view of the shunt. Underlines the severity & violence. #F1 pic.twitter.com/7j4vO6QOBe
— Mark Gallagher (@_markgallagher) July 3, 2022
Once Zhou's condition was assessed and declared alright, replays of the accident showed that a tightening of the field shortly after the start led to a contact between Pierre Gasly and Russell.
The Mercedes driver was then pitched into Zhou's Alfa Romeo which spun and turned over.
The Alfa rushed across the gravel trap, overturned several times and then somersaulted over the Safer barrier on the outside of the corner, its terrifying journey finally halted by the catch-fencing.
Meanwhile, as drivers behind took avoiding action, Albon was hit from behind by Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel.
Williams stated on social media that Albon has been transferred by helicopter to Coventry Hospital "for precautionary checks following the opening lap incident".
The team said that it would provide an update on Albon's condition when available.
The race was due to restart with 17 cars on the grid and in the order of qualifying.
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