Zhou Guanyu feared being trapped upside down in his burning car after British Grand Prix smash

Zhou Guanyu has revealed he feared he would be trapped upside down in a burning car after his horror crash at the British Grand Prix on Sunday.

A record 142,000 crowd at Silverstone watched horrified as Zhou’s Alfa Romeo skidded upside down before flipping over the tyre wall and smashing into the outside fence leaving the 23-year-old trapped in his cockpit. 

‘Once I was stopped I didn’t know where I was because I was upside down, and the next thing I felt was some leaking,’ Zhou said in a press conference on Thursday. 

‘I was not sure if it was from my body or from the car, so I just tried to switch the engine off because the engine was still on at that point.

‘I knew if a fire started it would be difficult to get out, so I switched my engine off, and then everything was fine.’

He had to be cut out of his car and taken away on a stretcher but, miraculously, the protective halo bar above his helmet – introduced as a safety measure by F1 in 2018 – meant he was given a clear bill of health after assessment.

And he has been given the green light to race at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend after an examination from FIA medics. 

A crane was required to remove Zhou’s car (above) after it flipped over the protective tyres

Zhou’s Alfa Romeo car flew across the gravel several times at Silverstone on Sunday

‘Finished the final medical check, all good to go!’ he wrote on social media. 

‘Thanks to all of the people who supported me during this time, means the world.’

Zhou said he was looking forward to getting back on the track in a bid to help him recover from the crash.

‘Already on Sunday I watched the race back. I didn’t feel sick watching it or have that feeling’, he said.

The blockbuster race was delayed by 53 minutes after the horror crash from the race start

Zhou’s car flipped before being caught between the tyre wall and the fence at Silverstone 

‘I feel like I was able to digest a bit myself, so I was happy mentally just having one day off and then went back into checking my physical condition. For me it wasn’t a concern.

‘Obviously there are times you do something and you need a bit of mental help, but this time I didn’t feel it was needed.’

Zhou added: ‘Sunday night I was texting all my engineers asking, is my seat OK? For drivers the seat is very important. It’s been very comfortable so far, but it can be different even if they try to do the same.’

Chinese driver Zhou took to social media to confirm the halo had saved him