Masi after Giovinazzi's loose wheel: "We are worried about this situation"

It was a striking image in the opening phase of the Belgian Grand Prix. Antonio Giovinazzi lost control of his car at the end of the second sector, and he hit the wall hard. The parts flying around then ended up on the track and a loose wheel hit George Russell's car, and the Williams driver was lucky to come away unscathed.

According to Michael Masi, the F1 race director, it's worrying that a wheel can just come loose from the car. "We are, of course, very worried about the situation. Our technical experts have already started the investigation. We have the video footage and a lot of pictures of the parts have been taken after they came back from the scene of the accident," Masi explained to Auto, Motor und Sport.

Extra tyre stacks to prevent a repeat?

"We need to look carefully at the data but it is too early to draw any real conclusions at this stage." What was strange about the accident was that Giovinazzi did hit the pile of tyres, but then bounced back onto the track and finally came to a standstill on the other side. A similar incident took place last year in Formula 2, in Antoine Hubert's fatal accident.

These accidents raise the question of whether Formula 1 has become too fast for Spa. "After each accident, of course, we look at whether we can improve things around safety. That does not just involve Spa. We need to see whether it is possible to widen and enlarge the tyre stacks at the moment."

Spa is part of Formula 1

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff believes Spa-Francorchamps is still good for F1. "Of course it's a fast corner where Giovinazzi shot off, but Formula 1 needs these old tracks. These are the circuits where the driver can make a difference and we actually need more of these."