According to the report, the tragic incident was triggered by a series of events lasting for 14.6 seconds. On the second lap of the race, Giuliano Alesi lost control of his car at Eau Rouge – the apparent result of a tyre deflation.
The following cars of Ralph Boschung and Hubert took evasive action, however, Hubert didn’t slow down quite as much as Boschung and clipped the rear of his car, sending him into the barriers at a speed of 216kmh and coming to rest on the racing line. Correa then rounded the corner and lost control after hitting debris, sending him into the stationary Hubert.
This second impact sent Hubert’s car back into the barriers at high speed and he experienced a peak force of 81.8g.
In terms of the incident response, the report noted that the yellow flag was deployed 1.8 seconds after Alesi’s incident, that the double-waved yellows came out 2.5 seconds after Correa’s car hit Hubert, with the red flags being thrown a further 2.7 seconds later.
The medical response began just 12 seconds after Alesi first spun, Hubert was receiving medical attention 54 seconds after the red flag, Correa being attended to 69 seconds after the red flag, and the extraction teams arriving on scene within two minutes.
The FIA’s conclusions from that tragic day have been broken down into five key areas. It reads as follows:
- A chain of events resulted in a protracted and complex crash sequence involving four drivers, which ultimately led to a high-speed ‘T-Bone’ type impact between the cars of Juan Manuel Correa and Anthoine Hubert.
- The dynamics of the car-to-car impact in terms of speed and trajectory were such that an extremely high level of energy was transferred and dissipated, translating into non-survivable trauma to Anthoine Hubert and very serious injuries to Juan Manuel Correa.
- There was no single specific cause but multiple contributory factors giving rise to the severity of the accident were identified, following a detailed analysis of the various phases of the accident.
- The investigation found no evidence that any driver failed to react appropriately in response to the yellow flag signal or to the circumstances on track.
- The reaction of marshals and race control in deploying signalling and rescue services in relation to the accident is considered timely and good.
The full report can be read by clicking here.
