R.I.P Henry Surtees
Henry Surtees, the son of 1964 Formula 1 world champion John Surtees, has died following an accident in a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch on Sunday.
During the second of the weekend’s races, the 18-year-old was struck on the head by a wheel and tire from the car of Jack Clarke, who had spun into the wall exiting Westfield Bend.
Surtees was knocked unconscious in the accident and his car failed to negotiate the following Sheene Corner, running straight off the track and into the barrier.
Medical crews were swiftly on the scene to extract Surtees from the car, before he was taken to the track’s medical centre. He was stabilised at the circuit’s facility before being airlifted to the Royal London hospital.
A spokesperson for the hospital this evening confirmed that Surtees had died from his injuries.
Father and son: Henry Surtees (right) with his father John
His step up to the category came after several seasons in karts, which included victory in the Junior Gearbox Championship in 2005, before a graduation to car racing in the Ginetta Junior Championship in 2006.
He switched to single seaters in 2007, taking a race victory in Formula BMW UK for Carlin Motorsport en route to seventh overall in the standings - and second in the rookie cup.
He also made a brief foray into the Formula Renault UK championship that year, contesting the final two rounds at Thruxton as well as the Winter Series.
In 2008 he remained in Formula Renault, taking 12th in the final standings before finishing runner-up in the Winter Series with one victory and three podiums from four races. He also contested last year’s British Formula 3 season finale in a National Class car for Carin, taking one victory and one podium.
The racing career of Henry Surtees — in detail
2009
FIA Formula Two Championship
Position: 18 (2 points)
6 races. 0 wins. 1 pole position. 0 podiums. 0 fastest laps.
Car: Williams JPH1 F2 (Audi)
2008
Formula Renault 2.0 UK
Position: 12 (203 points)
20 races. 0 wins. 0 pole positions. 1 podium. 0 fastest laps.
Team: Manor Competition
Car: Tatuus FR2000 (Renault)
Formula Renault UK with Michelin Winter Series
Position: 2 (113 points)
4 races. 1 win. 1 pole position. 3 podiums. 0 fastest laps.
Team: Manor Competition
Car: Tatuus FR2000 (Renault)
British F3 International Series - National class
Position: 11 (35 points)
2 races. 1 win. 0 pole positions. 2 podiums. 0 fastest laps.
Team: Carlin Motorsport
Car: Dallara F305 (Mugen Honda)
Formula Renault 2.0 WEC
Position: no position
2 races. 0 wins. 0 pole positions. 0 podiums. 0 fastest laps.
Team: Manor Motorsport
Car: Tatuus FR2000 (Renault)
2007
Formula BMW UK
Position: 6 (491 points)
18 races. 1 win. 1 pole position. 8 podiums. 2 fastest laps.
Team: Carlin Motorsport
Car: Mygale FB02 (BMW K1200RS)
Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series
Position: 13 (35 points)
4 races. 0 wins. 0 pole positions. 0 podiums. 0 fastest laps.
Team: Carlin Motorsport
Car: Tatuus FR2000 (Renault)
Formula BMW ADAC
Position: 29 (24 points)
2 races. 0 wins. 0 pole positions. 0 podiums. 0 fastest laps.
Team: ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg
Car: Mygale FB02 (BMW K1200RS)
Formula Renault 2.0 UK
Position: 22 (13 points)
2 races. 0 wins. 0 pole positions. 0 podiums. 0 fastest laps.
Team: Carlin Motorsport
Car: Tatuus FR2000 (Renault)
2006
Ginetta GT Junior Great Britain
Position: 3 (236 points)
12 races. 3 wins. 0 pole positions. 6 podiums. 3 fastest laps.
The karting career of Henry Surtees — in detail
2005
ABkC Highlight Super 4 - Junior Gearbox
Position: 1
2002
Super 1 National Cadet Championship
Position: 10 (527 points)
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Terrible, I have seen the footage, a errant wheel caught him on the head. The initial car going off was quite harmless & despite the wheel detaching it all looked quite normal. Poor Henry was just so unlucky, a few inches either way would have made all the difference.
It is always easy to be an expert after the event but I am curious as to how wheel tethers are utilised in this category. As has been seen in F1, impact forces can still break a restraining tether.
His father raced in an era which was fraught with danger, now this, very sad.
Been thinking about the tether issue myself, in fact if you look up Palmer’s comments about the category on the FIA website he mentions wheel tether’s being an integral part of the design.
I think this may be just one of those terrible examples of a freak accident, the wheel (however it detached) bounced & landed in the one place where you would not want it to. Such a tragedy for his family.
The point of tethers is to keep the broken wheel attached to the car, regardless of the impact. I’ll admit it may be near impossible to account for every circumstance and impact probability, but my suspicion meter is ticking loudly. Especially in a junior formula where not a lot of money may be available for these kinds of studies/design efforts. And is there no crash testing of the car chassis in the junior leagues?
While Spanky has been focusing his attentions on F1 I have to wonder if the junior leagues have been allowed to slack off. Another non legacy to his credit. Yeah, I’m blaming the pervert, okay?!?!
Peter, if you can provide a link to the video of the crash I’d appreciate it.
George, here’s the EuroSport video, although it’s hard to see that much it happens so fast.
I suspect a big investigation on this, as these same two drivers were involved in and accident in the second round where a wheel tether failed. You have to wonder if the FIA looked at it then and determined it was a freak accident and not worthy of changing the system and failed to act.
Regarding the specs of the junior formula’s, these F2 cars are built to the same F3000 regulations as a GP2,WSbR, A1GP or FNippon. The FIA puts them through similar front & side crash tests that the F1 cars must pass.
The problem with the tethers failing is just physics, when one corner of the car impacts with the wall enormous forces are released. In a effort to dissipate these forces the front wishbone are designed to load up under stress & then break free bleeding off the energy. This is where the wheel tethers come into play, keeping the wheel from flying away from the car. Unfortunately no matter how strong the tether there is a point where it will break, using even stronger tethers creates a bigger problem. When F1 tried double tethers their mounting point on the tub became the weakest link in the chain, extra strength tethers meant ripping the mount from the monocoque, degrading the integrity of the survival cell.
Palmer statement; “The Williams F1 designed Formula 2 cars comply with the FIA 2005 F1 safety standards, including the fitment of wheel tethers to reduce the risk of wheels coming off in accidents. The F2 car also includes the latest F1 standards of driver head protection with high cockpit sides and lateral deformable structures. As with F1 however, wheel tethers cannot provide an absolute guarantee that a wheel will not come off in an accident and in a single-seater race car the front of the head is inevitably exposed to the risk, however small, of being hit by another car or component.”
I agree you can’t legislate for every possibility, things just happen without a plausible explanation, but still feel the FIA carries some responsibility to look at the matter further.
I suppose you could mandate a closed cockpit, but is that realistic? This was really a freak occurrence, what was the chance of the tyre bouncing & landing in the absolute worst possible place?
Very sad, the poor fellow was only 18.
Wheel tethers are fitted, and of 2005 F1 standard. However, even the 2009 standard ones fail regularly. There is no guaranteed way of keeping broken wheels from falling off.
Having a fully enclosed cockpit would mean the end of single-seater racing as we know it. Cars with enclosed cockpits like these would look exactly the same as LMP1 cars in Le Mans.
It is a freak accident, the likes of which we haven’t seen in years, and probably wont see again for many more. All we can do as a community is learn from this, and not stand still.
RIP Henry, you won’t be forgotten
M
Same thing that killed Senna, wasn’t it, or similar? I understood a wishbone component actually pierced his helmet. Maybe this is just an inherent risk in this form of racing and the laws of averages kick in and claim a body every few years.
Didn’t mean to overlook the poor kids bad luck, no one that age should have to check out in that manner, especially when old goats like Marc and I have survived (at least in my case) much worse scenarios.
Regarding the Senna fatality, the difference between 94 & 09 driver head protection is huge.
As a direct result of Senna’s passing the whole cockpit regulations were modified to offer far greater protection. Compare the Wendlinger/Sauber accident at Monaco qualifying with the almost replica shunt by Button/Honda as an example. Poor Karl was in a coma, Jenson was assisted from the car & was required had to sit out the next day’s race. Ralph Schumacher’s slam into the wall at Indy, coming on to the main straight, is another example of how far the cars have improved. Had that been in a 94 car I’m not certain he would still be with us.
I fear that that while motorsport can NEVER be complacent regarding safety, the Surtees fatality shows there will always be some element of risk in the sport.
R.I.P Henry
Thanks for posting the video of the accident Marc, it explains much.
It’s been pulled from US distribution, at least that’s what it said when I went back just now to review it again. But, from my recollections:
1. The impact into the tire wall was not fatal.
2. The impact of the tire to his head was.
3. It was not speed that killed Henry, it was the friggin’ tree on
a corner exit that did him in!
While the car complies to design safety standards (I hope!), what happened to the FIA’s safety campaign about adequate and safe runoff areas?? No tree on the course, no accident!! And here I thought the sport learned something from the loss of Jimmy Clark. Stupid me!