Zhou Guanyu’s crash on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix was a harrowing moment for Formula One fans around the world, with the anxious wait to see if the Chinese rookie was ok.

He was stuck upside down in his car for a prolonged period of time as they tried to get him out of the car. Thankfully, Alfa Romeo confirmed he was conscious throughout.

When he was finally freed, he was stretchered off to the medical centre for checks but seemed stable and ok from reports.

The car skidded across the track and gravel before flying over the tyre wall and into the fencing where the spectators were.

Fan footage from directly in front of the crash has emerged and you can see just how harrowing it was for all involved.

You see fans running up the steps away from the front of the stand to try and get into a safer position as Zhou’s car flew towards them.

Thankfully, on top of the Chinese driver being ok, there was no injury to anyone in the crowd with the barrier holding firm.

The crash happened at high-speed Abbey Corner so Zhou is lucky to be alive.

Not for the first time today, we’ve seen the halo doing its job on the car, undoubtedly saving Zhou’s life but also F2 driver Roy Nissany as Dennis Hauger’s car landed on top of his after going over a sausage kerb.

Once again, the safety advancements in Formula One and the motorsport world in general have proven to be worthwhile, making the sports we love much safer.

In previous years, today would have seen us witness a double tragedy, thankfully, it resulted in nothing overly serious.

George Russell was touched by Pierre Gasly into Zhou which sent him flying across the track surface, the crash was investigated and the stewards agreed no further action was needed, putting it down to a racing incident.

The Brit suffers his first career DNF on the opening lap of a race in unfortunate fashion, he jumped out of his car to check on Zhou immediately, telling marshals to leave his car so he could return and get it back to the pits.

After his selfless reaction to go and see if he could help and check on Zhou, his car was already being taken away and he wasn’t allowed to restart the race after the red flag as he didn’t take the car back to the pits, he pleaded with the FIA but to no avail. His streak of top 5 finishes in every race this season is over.