F1 driver explains what ‘saved his life’ after horror crash (VIDEO)

F1 driver Zhou Guanyu thankfully lived to tell the tale after a horrific crash at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday, and later took to social media to explain what he believed had saved his life.

The race was eventually won by Carlos Sainz Jr. but had to be suspended before the end of its first lap owing to two huge collisions that involved multiple drivers.

Replays showed how Pierre Gasly was sandwiched between George Russell and Zhou, with contact between Gasly and Russell causing Russell's Mercedes to crash into the Chinese youngster. 

This rolled Zhou's car upside down through the iconic track's run-off area before it rolled over the barrier and was stopped by the catch fence located in front of a grandstand. 

Emergency crews immediately rushed to the scene to attend to the Chinese racer and Williams rival Alex Albon.

Afterwards, from Coventry Hospital, Zhou tweeted an update on his condition accompanied by a photo of the 23-year-old sitting up in his Alfo Romero gear.

"I’m ok, all clear. Halo saved me today. Thanks everyone for your kind messages!" he wrote.

The Halo device has been in F1 since the beginning of the 2018 season, with traditionalists initially opposing its introduction as they felt it affected the unprotected look of the cars used in the elite championship. 

In addition to saving Zhou's life, the Halo likely prevented Charles Leclerc from suffering a serious injury at the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix, while also being credited for saving drivers in other incidents such as 2020's fireball crash involving Romain Grosjean at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Zhou and Albon were both cleared of major injuries and later released from hospital following precautionary checks. 

The duo, along with Russell, were immediately ruled out of continuing the race, which restarted at exactly 15.36 local time after around an hour's delay. 

In the aftermath, the Brit and Lewis Hamilton's teammate was critical of the decision not to allow him to press on and demanded that F1 rethinks its tire barrier layout. 

"When I came back the car was already on the flatbed and they said we couldn't restart. So it's annoying because the only issue we had was a puncture," Russell said.

"The car was generally fine. There was a little bit of damage, but nothing show-stopping," he claimed.

Across the world of motorsports, however, Russell won plaudits and was dubbed a hero for ignoring a red flag and immediately leaping from his Mercedes to check if Zhou was alright.

"In that position, he was stuck there," explained Russell of the horror scene. "There's nothing he could have done."

"We need to have a think to avoid the car being stuck in such a fine gap, in the space between the tire barriers and the metal fence. He was just stuck in there with nowhere to go," Russell added.

"It was an incredibly scary incident, not just for him but I'm sure for everyone in the crowd as well. It was not nice to see.

"We obviously took a gamble starting on the hards because I didn't do a good enough job yesterday in qualifying, and we were starting out of position.

"We knew it was going to be very tricky but I just got completely swamped by everybody at the start, and the next thing I know is I was in the side of Zhou. There are so many different emotions," he concluded.

Elsewhere on Twitter, Russell stressed that the "most important thing" was that Zhou was ok and he also thanked the marshals and medical team "for their quick response" while further lamenting the way his afternoon ended. 

Russell was left to cheer on teammate Hamilton, who finished third and kept his sixth place in the drivers' standings topped by reigning champion Max Verstappen, who came seventh at Silverstone.