Monday 19 July 2010 marks the first anniversary since the death of Henry Surtees. Killed in a freak Formula 2 accident at Brands Hatch, the incident was a cruel reminder than motor racing can always be made safer, but never safe.
Son of John Surtees, 1964 Formula 1 World Champion for Ferrari and the only man to have clinched world crowns on two wheels and four, Henry John was born in February 1991 and started racing in 2006 at the age of 15, enjoying three race wins and third overall in the Ginetta GT Junior Championship.
Moves to Formula BMW and Formula Renault followed in 2007, finishing sixth in the British version of the former before winning one of the two British Formula 3 National Class events he entered in 2008.
Having switched to F2 in the comeback year of the series, having been runner-up in the previous year’s Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series, Henry was knocked unconscious when a flying wheel from Jack Clarke’s car struck his helmet at Westfield corner.
Rushed to the Royal London Hospital by air ambulance with numerous head injuries, Surtees was pronounced dead on the night.
Bizarrely, on the same race weekend’s Sunday this year, the on-track activities were marred by an enormous crash in the SEAT Leon Eurocup just several hundred metres down the track from the scene of Surtees’ accident; fortunately, although Portuguese driver Francisco Carvalho’s car came to rest on the wrong side of the Armco barrier, all in the vicinity escaped injured.
The thoughts of GPUpdate.net are with the friends and family of Henry Surtees as motorsport continues to remember a talented driver who remained Britain’s highest-placed representative in the 2009 Formula 2 season.
Also on Monday: Miracle escape at Brands Hatch
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