Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon had their own brush with disaster in an extremely wet race at Spa-Francorchamps, close to the scene of last week’s fatal crash.
Eighteen-year-old Formula Regional European Championship racer Dilano Van ‘T Hoff died after a horrific accident in heavily wet conditions at the end of the race last weekend when he lost control and was hit at Kemmel by unsighted driver Adam Fitzgerald, who was also injured in the collision.The Alpine pair described how the tragedy reminded them of a multi-car crash they were almost involved in 2012 during a round of the Formula Renault Eurocup – the fore-runner to the FREC series.
The first-lap collision also occured in very wet conditions. Javier Tarancon spun on the Kemmel Straight, leaving him stranded in the middle of the circuit. Tarancon was then struck, with Normal Nato, Dan de Zille and Victor Franzoni all caught up in the crash that resulted in the race being red-flagged.
Gasly says last weekend’s fatal accident demonstrates how dangerous it is when drivers are unable to see due to spray from other cars in wet conditions.
“I think visibility in the rain is critical,” Gasly said.
“Unfortunately, what’s happened in Spa – I had a conversation with Esteban on the parade, we had a very similar situation in 2012 Formula Renault 2.0, where we both started from the back of the grid, similar conditions.
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“To be fair, you’re praying for your life that no one stops in the middle, because you can’t even see five metres ahead of you. It’s really extreme conditions.”
“I think most of the time it’s the reason why we don’t get on the track is not so much for driving purposes, but just the fact that we just can’t see where we’re going,” he explained.
“We accept the risk that is part of our sport. And this will always remain. But I think in Suzuka last year we were happy to drive. The problem is we don’t see where we’re going.
“From the moment you know you don’t know where you’re going and someone is stopped in front of you in these cars – we’re going extremely fast. You take the risk of taking the life of someone away. This should not be part of this sport. We should not be put in such conditions. Even more with young talents trying to make their way to Formula 1. So it’s clearly something which needs to be addressed.
“I just request from all the people involved, whether it’s the federation [FIA], to make the right review and analysis and we take actions very quickly.”
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Van ‘T Hoff’s death is the second time a young single-seater racer has been killed on the stretch from Eau Rouge to Kemmel in the last four years. French Formula 2 racer Anthoine Hubert – a good friend of Gasly’s – also died following a similar two-car collision at Raidillon in 2019, in which Juan-Manuel Correa was also seriously injured.
“I personally decided not to look at the footage because it was so hard to get over what happened with Anthoine,” Gasly said. “I’m not ready to go through the whole sort of emotions and having this stuck in your mind. So I can’t really make precise comments on what needs to be done.
“I think visibility is clearly one of the priorities which needs to be changed and it needs to be reviewed. Personally, I don’t think it’s related [to track layout]. But once again, I don’t have the magic answer and there are people working on it to who will be better placed than me and with more information to know exactly what needs to be done to make sure we don’t lose other drivers.”
Ocon said “there needs to be a review on everything that happened,” which contributed to the crash. “It is a tragedy.
“The weather conditions are the things that makes these conditions very tricky. It’s not like there’s only 20 cars in those championships, there’s more than 30. I’ve been in that position in the past, at the back like that, and not seeing anything, and the visibility is the main factor in that race. For most of us, we drive blind in those moments.”
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F1 will test new bodywork which could be fitted to cars in wet races to reduce the spray produced by tyres.
“I’m sure the FIA is looking into it to try to improve the situation,” said Ocon.” I think we have some ‘mudguard’ tests here next week, or pretty soon, which is supposed to help visibility. The issue is that we should not learn the hard way, this way. It’s a very sad moment for motorsport.”
2012 Formula Renault Eurocup Spa race two crash
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Slobo (@slobo)
7th July 2023, 8:29
“Van ‘T Hoff’s death is the second time a teenage single-seater has been killed on the stretch from Eau Rouge to Kemmel in the last four years. French Formula 2 racer Anthoine Hubert – a good friend of Gasly’s – also died following a similar two-car collision at Raidillon in 2019, in which Juan-Manuel Correa was also seriously injured.”
Hubert was no longer a teenager when he died, he was almost 23.
cdfemke (@cdfemke)
7th July 2023, 15:11
They had also somebody spinning and no (double) yellows shown? If thats true than its not just an incident
George.be
7th July 2023, 18:47
The real non-incident is racing through the rivers in Eau Rouge, where 20 cars generate a fog where even a bat with x-ray goggles can’t navigate. It doesn’t matter where and on what track, if the visibility is 0, don’t race. Ever.
Some of these f1-guys can race close to the complete lap blindfolded in a sim, but they can’t account for obstacles that aren’t supposed to be there.
The spin / aquaplaning happened first, and it doesn’t matter if there is run-off or not, if fast catches slow…
I was at Blanchimont in 1998, and heard a crash that could ‘ve ended way worse than just two broken cars, and was saying to a collegue that those guys were a bunch of lunatics. My collegue heard the crash of Hubert, because there was nothing to see, nothing but a fog of water. The first thing she said about VtH’s crash: carbon-copy of Hubert.