Carlos Sainz claims maiden F1 win in British Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz claimed his maiden Formula One win on his 150th start in a thrilling British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver kept his cool to beat Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes.

World champion Max Verstappen finished out of the first five in a race marred by a multi-car pile up at the opening corner.

Zhou escapes serious injury after multi-car smash at Silverstone

Earlier, the British Grand Prix was red-flagged after a horror opening-corner multi-car smash, with Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo flipped upside down and hurtling over the circuit’s safety barrier.

As Max Verstappen pipped pole sitter Carlos Sainz to the first corner there was “carnage” behind with marshalls rushing to Zhou trapped in his stricken car.

George Russell’s Mercedes, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and the Williams of Alex Albon were also involved.

Zhou’s car was catapulted upside down, the Chinese rookie’s head saved by his car’s roll hoop-halo as it skidded off across a gravel trap and over tyre barriers into the catch fencing, where it bounced back to finish semi-upright in a stationary position.

Detailed replays of the accident were not available immediately until Zhou had been rescued from his car.

He was attended by emergency evacuation medical crews and lifted out, transferred on to a stretcher and taken by ambulance to the circuit medical centre.

Albon was also taken to the medical centre before being transferred to Coventry Hospital by helicopter for further precautionary tracks.

The sport’s ruling body the International Motoring Federation (FIA) advised that both drivers were conscious and were being checked over and evaluated.

They later announced that Zhou was “in good health and has left the medical centre”.

The normal speed for Formula One cars in that part of the circuit is around 240 kph.

In re-runs of the start, it appeared that Russell, starting eighth, moved to his right after a poor start and collided with Zhou’s Alfa Romeo as the pair strove to stay ahead of Pierre Gasly.

This triggered Zhou’s wild excursion off-circuit and dragged other cars into further less serious multiple collisions around them.

In a separate additional announcement, the FIA confirmed also that several protestors had tried to run on to the circuit following the red flag.