Formula One news

Surtees: Things to be learnt

Motorsport legend John Surtees has said there are things to be learnt from the death of his 18-year-old son Henry. Henry Surtees died in a crazy incident at Brands Hatch last month as he got hit by a wheel flying off another driver's car.

"Why did that wheel come off and why was it able to travel at that velocity?" Mr Surtees wonders in an interview with BBC. "There are things to be learnt. Bernie Ecclestone was on the phone this morning talking to me about that very same thing.

"So we have got to make certain that his death isn't in vain. There will be progress - this is the way that motorsport and competitive people are."

The 75-year-old former Formula One world champion said that back in the old days safety was a lot worse. "I lived through a period when there were absolute tragedies to drivers, partly because of the circuits but partly because of the cars of the time. It wasn't until the larger money came into motorsport that you got the safety levels you have today. Motor racing compared to other things is so very safe, that is the irony of it," he said.

At Henry's last race Mr. Surtees was present. "I reached down into the cockpit on the starting line at Brands Hatch, and we shook hands," Surtees said. "We bid each other farewell, as it turned out."

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