Pierre Gasly says the crash which claimed the life of Dilano Van ‘T Hoff today was a reminder of the similar accident which killed his friend Anthoine Hubert four years ago.
The Alpine driver called for a “very deep” analysis of the cause of the crash between Van ‘T Hoff and Adam Fitzgerald, who was hospitalised following their collision in a Formula Regional European Championship race at Spa-Francorchamps today.Hubert died as a result of injuries he sustained in a Formula 2 crash at the track in 2019. The two incidents happened at similar points on the circuit at high speeds in comparable circumstances.
The Hubert crash occured at Raidillon. He struck a barrier, rebounded onto the racing line and was hit by Juan Manuel Correa. Van ‘T Hoff was also hit by an oncoming car after striking a barrier further down the same straight at Kemmel.
Gasly admitted “I didn’t want to look at the crash so I don’t have the information on the whole situation” but said it reminded him of his friend’s death.
“I think we’re all shocked and extremely sad with what’s happened,” he said. “It reminds us of obviously very sad time with what happened with Anthoine a couple of years ago.
“It just seems wrong. We should never be in such position of losing young talents. So it clearly needs a review of what’s happened exactly and making sure these scenarios never happen in the future because I think it’s enough losing some talent in such a fashion and obviously extremely sad.”
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“I really hope all the people involved in safety and looking after the safety of all the drivers are going to take some actions because it’s not the first time and should have never taken place,” he added. “We should have never been in such a situation already a few years back, and it just definitely needs a review.”
Van ‘T Hoff’s crash differed from Hubert’s in that it happened in a wet race and visibility was poor due to the spray generated by cars. Gasly said he has experienced situations at Spa which did not feel safe because of the difficulty seeing ahead.
“It reminds me of situations I’ve been in, also in the younger categories in Spa in similar conditions, and being fully honest, there were times where I did feel in massive danger just with poor visibility. There were situations where it just feels pretty unsafe.
“But once again, I don’t know exactly what’s happened. We do a risky sport which is always going to remain risky, whatever we do, with the speed that we go at. But it definitely needs a very deep investigation and just for the future of our sport making some changes.”
Gasly’s Alpine featured a tribute to Van ‘T Hoff during today’s sprint race at the Red Bull Ring. The A523 carried a black band on its nose.
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Jere (@jerejj)
2nd July 2023, 5:48
A very deep investigation, yes, but since that section already got quite considerable changes for last year, including larger runoff space, I don’t know how much more could realisyically be done, considering the track’s natural limits.