A sluggish launch from George Russell to set off contact with the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly despatched the Mercedes spinning into Zhou on the method to the Flip 1 right-hander.
The collision with rookie Zhou was sufficient to flip his automotive, which then skated on its roll hoop throughout the asphalt earlier than digging in by means of the gravel entice.
The Alfa then grew to become airborne to clear the tyre barrier till it was stopped by the catch fencing, though the automotive then dropped between the 2 security units to go away Zhou briefly caught within the cockpit.
Whereas Zhou escaped with out harm, for this season, the FIA has elevated the stringency of crash testing for the roll hoop to cut back the probability of it digging in.
This has been carried out through lowering the peak at which a revised homologation check might be utilized. Additional tweaks to the construction are anticipated for 2024.
In the meantime, Silverstone has modified the first-corner run-off by eradicating the gravel mattress (roughly 45 metres deep) to get replaced by a bigger part of asphalt.
Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle advised Motorsport.com: “We have finished a load of labor this winter. There is a large piece of asphalt out the entrance fairly than the gravel.
“That is to cease them digging in. It is the digging in bit that was the true concern there.”
New asphalt run-off at Flip 1
Picture by: Mick Walker
London F1 race plans in Docklands makes “no sense”
A redevelopment proposal for the London Docklands that’s headlined by a Method 1 race is “cobblers” and makes “no sense”, reckons the boss of Silverstone.
There have been a number of pitches for an F1 race within the English capital, together with former sequence boss Bernie Ecclestone focusing on a city-centre circuit that includes well-known landmarks within the 2010s.
When Silverstone signed its new contract with Liberty Media in 2019, provisions have been included to guard the historic venue ought to a London race ever come to fruition.
However the newest Docklands proposal has been handled with scepticism, with its backers LDN Collective and DAR to this point but to make contact with championship organisers.
Royal Docks grand prix CGI
Picture by: Uncredited
In the meantime, Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle doubts such plans would ever acquire enough monetary backing to model the idea as making “no sense”.
Talking to Autosport concerning the renders for the Docklands race, which function floating grandstands and an elevated pitlane operating by means of the primary flooring of the ExCeL, Pringle stated: “[It] Seems like one other property developer making an attempt to get their property deal away to me.
“Who’s paying for it? I can let you know it prices an eyewatering sum of cash to place it on at a everlasting facility.
“Our prices of supply are about as little as you may get. Method 1 aren’t going to do it without spending a dime.
“So. who’s paying for it? No person appears to reply that query. It is senseless.
“We used to say 10 years in the past even then it was $50 million to placed on a road race. It is simply cobblers.”