WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Russell relief at loose tyre miss — year after pal’s death at Spa
BRITAIN’S George Russell saw a loose wheel weighing 22lbs barrelling towards him and took the only evasive action he could, pranging his Williams into the barrier on the left.
The errant missile, from Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo, still clipped Russell’s own leftfront tyre and bounced away. Only slightly shaken, the helpless victim of circumstance walked out. So did the Italian, whose car was more extravagantly wrecked.
Before they ambled away, and other camera angles depicted the events just described, a long-lens shot of the scene captured the debris of the two stricken cars, and a few minds reeled back to what happened on the grid before the start of yesterday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Around an image of Anthoine Hubert, his mother Nathalie had led a minute’s silence in memory of her 22-year-old son who died in the Formula Two race here last year.
In all, 48 drivers in various series have perished at this rugged track set in the Ardennes mountains — one of the world’s sylvan graveyards — since Briton Bill Hollowell died in the pre-World Championship grand prix of 1925.
Yesterday’s drama unfolded nine laps into the race won at a canter by Lewis Hamilton — a shock occurrence like night following day. Giovinazzi lost control at 125mph on the exit of Les Fagnes, a right-left flick.
His Alfa Romeo spun into the barriers on the right of the track before bouncing back into the racing line as Russell — a team-mate of Hubert in 2017 — came thundering by. Had it not been for the ‘ halo’ introduced for 2018 offering protection to the driver’s head, the 22-year- old driver from King’s Lynn, Norfolk, would have had every reason to fear for his life.
‘It was scary for a split-second to have this massive rear tyre flying towards me,’ he said. ‘It is certainly the most dramatic incident in my Formula One career.
‘But when a wheel works free from its tethering it isn’t ideal. It is something that needs to be looked at because it could hit a marshal or someone else.
‘I am immensely grateful to be in this era, but motor racing can never be entirely safe. It is still incredibly dangerous.’
With restrictions brought about by coronavirus, neither Russell’s father Steve nor mother Alison were at the track. They were concerned onlookers from their house in Leicestershire. The texts came in. He had already sent a radio message of his own to them from the cockpit, declaring himself fine. He did not even need to see the doctor.
Russell had stood in the circle of respect for Hubert. Memories flowed from their time racing together in GP3 for ART Grand Prix three years ago, when the talented Englishman was crowned champion.
‘Memories flooded back,’ he added. ‘The minute’s silence was emotional but once the engines start and the helmet goes on, you put that out of your mind.
‘Once you take the helmet off, you think back to what happened a year ago. You realise what life means and that what happened to Anthoine could happen to any of us.’
The escape was the most colourful action on an afternoon when only a deluge from the pregnant clouds hovering over the forest could have prevented Hamilton’s 89th win, and fifth of the season, once he purred away from pole and over the horizon.
As the Mercedes man conceded, he could have sent himself to sleep. What we would give for Valtteri Bottas, his team-mate, showing some flashes of thunder. For at the race’s two moments critique, at the start and the re- start brought about by the Russell incident, the Finn was too timid to plant himself effectively on Hamilton’s tale to take the tow — and the fight — to the champion.
For the record, Bottas finished runner- up, more than eight seconds back. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was a further seven adrift in third — and 47 points off Hamilton in the standings after seven of 17 rounds.
More fun came courtesy of Ferrari’s unfailing circus. Having qualified 13th and 14th, it got worse for their disgruntled pair of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel.
Both had robust words with their pit wall boffins — Vettel urging them to ‘f******’ consider pitting him again, and Leclerc asking why he was brought in for a second time. ‘We’ll tell you later,’ he was informed.
Vettel’s 13th- place finish and Leclerc’s 14th — both just over a minute back from Hamilton — underlined the Scuderia’s disarray.