Anthoine Hubert

On 31 August 2019, Hubert was critically injured when he was involved in a serious crash on the second lap of the feature race of the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps FIA Formula 2 round. As the second lap began, Trident driver Giuliano Alesi lost control of his car as he climbed the Raidillon curve due to a puncture he had received earlier, causing his car to spin and hit the left wall of the circuit, tearing off his rear wing and spreading debris onto the track. As another Trident driver, Ralph Boschung reached the crest of Raidillon, he slowed down and moved towards the run-off area to avoid Alesi's damaged car and the field of debris. Hubert, who was following Boschung's slowing car closely, moved right as well, clipping Boschung's right rear wheel with his front wing. Hubert's car crashed into the tyre barrier on the right side of the track at an acute angle and was deflected sideways into the path of Charouz driver Juan Manuel Correa, who struck the left side of Hubert's car.[25] Correa's speed was estimated to be between 250 and 270 km/h (155-167 mph) in the moments before the impact.[26] The impact produced 70G deceleration.[27] Both cars were torn apart by the force of the accident. Hubert and Correa were transported to the circuit's medical centre following the accident, where Hubert died from his injuries.[28][29]

Correa was airlifted to Liège where he underwent surgery for fractures in both his legs and a minor spinal injury and was reported to be in a stable condition, having never lost consciousness after the impact, but one week later was placed in an induced coma.[30] Alesi, the third driver in the accident, was unhurt. As a result of the accident the feature race was not completed and the sprint race was cancelled out of respect.[31]

Following his death, many drivers and teams in the motorsport world paid tribute to Hubert.[32] On 1 September, a minute's silence was observed before the Formula 3 and Formula 1 races at Spa.[33] Former F3 competitor and Ferrari Formula One driver Charles Leclerc, who won his first career race that afternoon, dedicated his win to Hubert.[34] A standing ovation took place on the 19th lap of the race, corresponding to the number 19 of his Formula 2 car. Before the start of the race, all racing safety vehicles, safety car, medical car, track inspection car, ambulance, car recovery vehicles, etc. made a lap of Circuit de Spa Francorchamps as a tribute to Hubert. All F1 cars had Hubert's car number inside a star and the words "Racing for Anthoine".

Hubert's funeral was on 10 September at Chartres Cathedral, Eure-et-Loir. It was attended by his family, friends and many people from the motorsport world, including Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile president Jean Todt, Renault F1 advisor and four-time champion Alain Prost, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, and George Russell.[35] Hubert's car number, 19, was later announced to have been permanently retired from use in Formula 2 with his replacement Artem Markelov running the #22 in place of the #19.[1][36]

On the one year anniversary of his death, many people in the F1 paddock went to the Raidillon tyre barrier (including close friend Pierre Gasly), where Hubert crashed to pay their respects. The F2 Feature race had a small remembrance graphic for Hubert on the upper right hand side of the broadcast (a half star with Hubert's initials and his number, AH19). Pierre Gasly wore a tribute helmet for the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix. All single seater race cars in Belgium during the F1 weekend had an AH19 remembrance stickers on them.

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) launched an investigation into the accident.[37] Findings of the accident investigation were presented to the World Motor Sport Council, together with recommended actions in December 2019.[38] F2 cars are built to the same safety standard as F1 cars,[39][40] however, following the accident, Racing Point F1 Team technical boss Andy Green commented: "The energy involved was absolutely huge, and the current chassis design, whether F2 or F1, there's no way a current chassis can survive that sort of impact."[41] The FIA finished this investigation in February 2020.[42]

Hubert was pronounced dead approximately 90 minutes after the accident took place.[43] FIA stated that Hubert's cause of death was "non-survivable trauma", other details such as whether the trauma related injures occurred in the head, neck or chest area were not released.[44] Traumatic injuries can be caused by a wide variety of blunt, penetrating or burn mechanisms.[45] FIA gathers extensive medical data on drivers during the course of the race, however, this data is not released to the public due to privacy and ethical reasons.[46][47] Other drivers killed by trauma related injuries include Ayrton Senna[48] and Dan Wheldon.[49][50]

In May 2020, the FIA Safety Department issued the following safety recommendations which will be implemented in future generations of single seat cars (including F1, F2, F3, F4 and Formula E cars):[51]

• Debris Containment - using "tethering" in order to prevent large pieces from falling off the car (used currently for keeping wheels attached to the chassis in case of an accident), the use of "tethers" may now be expanded to front and rear wings as well as other large components on the car.[52] Correa struck pieces from Alesi's car (following Alesi's crash) causing Correa's car to become uncontrollable and strike Hubert's already disabled car.[53] IndyCar began fielding "tethers" for non-wheel components in 2016.[54]

• Increasing the frontal and side strength of the cockpit (also known as the "safety cell").[55][56]

• Improving the car-to-car compatibility during a crash - the narrow nose section of Formula 2 cars can penetrate the side protection of another car.[57] The current side protection consisting of two Side Impact Protection Structures (SIPS) and Side Anti Intrusion Panel will be redesigned.[57][51] The lack of compatibility in car-to-car collisions was also noticed in the 2017 Billy Monger crash where a piece of the car crash protection structure (designed to protect the driver when colliding with a wall) can cause unnecessarily serious injuries if struck by another car.[57] Correa impacted Hubert at a speed of 218km/h, experienced 65G and suffered much more serious injuries than Robert Kubica did in his 2007 crash (acute respiratory distress syndrome, broken legs, spinal injury[58] vs. Kubicas sprained ankle).[59] Kubica struck the wall at 230km/h and experienced 75G (both higher than Correa).[60]

• Front wing redesign - increase the robustness of the front wing by introducing “controlled failure” points which should reduce the chance that the entire front wing is destroyed in case of minor contact with another car,[51] as this caused Hubert's car to crash into the barriers and become immobilised;[53] additionally, the loss of the entire front wing also caused Correa to lose control of his car which ultimately resulted in the fatal car-to-car crash between them.[53]

• Headrest redesign (also known as cockpit surround padding)[57] - ensuring that all or at least part of the headrest remains in place in case of a heavy crash.[51] The same problem was already observed during Magnussen's 2016 crash.[61]

• Quicker Accident Notification System - for example using the existing rain light to flash in different colours (e.g. yellow to indicate yellow flag conditions on the track or red (to indicate that the race has been stopped). Possible introduction of car to car communication, i.e. notifications of stationary car(s) on the track.[51][57]

• Tyre Pressure Monitoring System Deployment - crash sequence began with Alesi losing control due to a tyre puncture which he was unaware of before he lost control.[53][51]

In October 2020, it was announced that the Raidillon corner would be modified by expanding the run-off area and reintroducing gravel traps.[62][63]

At the FIA Formula 2 Championship prize-giving ceremony in Monaco in 2019 the Anthoine Hubert Award was introduced. It is named after Hubert who was the only rookie in the season to score two wins.[64] The award is given to the highest-placed driver without previous Formula 2 experience.[65] The inaugural recipient of the Anthoine Hubert Award was Guanyu Zhou.[66]

Hubert is remembered in the racing game F1 2020, where he is a selectable driver.[67]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anthoine Hubert.

• Official site
• Anthoine Hubert career summary at DriverDB.com