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{{short description|British racing driver}}{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}

factoids

Lingfield, Surrey>Lingfield, Surrey, England20091902df=y}}| death_place = Whitechapel, London, EnglandFIA Formula Two Championship (2009–2012)>FIA Formula Two Championship2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season>2009| teams = MotorSport Vision| car number = 7| starts = 7| wins = 0| poles = 1| fastest laps = 0| best finish = 14th2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season>2009British Formula 3 International Series>British F3Formula Renault 2.0 West European CupBritish Formula Renault Championship>Formula Renault UKBritish Formula Renault ChampionshipFormula BMW>Formula BMW ADACFormula BMW UKGinetta GT Juniors2008 British Formula Three season>200820082007-2008 Formula Renault UK season2007-0820072007 Formula BMW UK season>20072006}}Henry John Surtees (18 February 1991 – 19 July 2009) was a British racing driver and the son of John Surtees. He died during a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch when he was struck by a wheel which came off another car which had spun into a wall.

Career

Formula BMW UK

Surtees finished his debut season in the championship 7th in the overall points standings, and second in the Rookie Cup. During a season in which the second half was dominated by fellow rookie Marcus Ericsson, Surtees claimed one pole position (Thruxton), one race win (Donington Park) and two fastest laps (Rockingham and Snetterton) while driving for the Carlin Motorsport team. The season was marred by penalties and a disqualification at Oulton Park.

Formula Renault

File:HenrySurtees.jpg|thumb|Surtees racing at Snetterton in 2008]]After two races in 2007, Surtees moved up full-time to the Formula Renault UK series in 2008 with Manor Competition. He finished 12th in the championship, including a third-place finish at Silverstone's National Circuit.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170315174212weblink">weblink dead, 15 March 2017, Silverstone (Ntnl), 30/31 Aug 2008, Racing Steps Foundation, 31 August 2008, 2009-03-01, He also competed in the Winter Series again, having finished 13th in 2007. He battled James Calado for the title, with Calado coming out on top.

Formula Three

Surtees competed in one race meeting during the 2008 season, in the final two races at Donington Park for Carlin Motorsport. Surtees took a win and a second in his two races in the National Class.WEB,weblink Carlin rookies shine at Donington, crash.net, 14 October 2008, 2009-03-01,

Formula Two

Surtees signed up to the revived FIA Formula Two Championship ahead of the 2009 season on 2 January 2009. He drove car number seven in the series.WEB,weblink Surtees name returns to Formula TwoFIA Formula Two Championship (2009–2012)>FIA Formula Two Championship, 2 January 2009, 2009-01-07,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20090220125241weblink">weblink 20 February 2009, dead, He scored a podium in the first of the two races at Brands Hatch, coming third, and achieved a pole position at Brno. His results placed him fourteenth in the championship, at the end of the season.

Death

{{Wikinews|British Formula Two driver Henry Surtees dies after race accident}}File:Henry Surtees.jpg|thumb|right|Surtees at Brands HatchBrands HatchAt Brands Hatch on 19 July 2009, during a Formula Two race, Surtees was hit on the head by a wheel from the car of Jack Clarke after Clarke spun into the wall exiting Westfield Bend. The wheel broke its tether and bounced back across the track into the following group of cars and collided with Surtees's helmet.NEWS, Cary, Tom, Henry Surtees's death shakes motorsport world, The Daily Telegraph,weblink 20 July 2009, 2009-07-24, NEWS, F2 bosses to probe Surtees tragedy, Kent and Sussex Courier, thisissussex.co.uk,weblink 22 July 2009, 2009-07-24,weblink" title="archive.today/20120913164115weblink">weblink 13 September 2012, dead, The mass of the wheel assembly hitting his head was {{convert|29|kg|lb}}, and given that his car was travelling at {{convert|161|kph}} at the time the wheel struck, the impact yielded approximately 30,000 joules of kinetic energy.MAGAZINE, English, Steven, Glendenning, Mark, 31 December 2009, Loved and lost: Henry Surtees 1991-2009; Tribute by John Surtees, Autosport, 198, 13, 42–43, People talked about Felipe Massa's accident in Hungary the following week. He had 0.8 kg hit him, Henry had 29 kg., The car continued straight ahead into the barrier on the approach to Sheene Curve, also losing a wheel, and came to rest at the end of the curve with its remaining rear wheel still spinning and the engine at its RPM limiter. This indicated that Surtees had lost consciousness, with his foot still pressing the accelerator.Surtees was extricated from the car and taken to the circuit's medical centre, where he was stabilized before being transferred to the Royal London Hospital. He was pronounced brain dead later that day.NEWS, Surtees's son killed in race crash, BBC News,weblink 20 July 2009, 2009-07-24, He was 18 years old. Surtees's death was attributed to severe head injuries, inflicted by colliding with Clarke's wheel, rather than the subsequent crash with the barriers.NEWS,weblink Henry Surtees dies after F2 crash, Jonathan, NobleHaymarket Group>Haymarket Publications, autosport.com, 19 July 2009DATE=2017-03-20ACCESS-DATE=2018-08-28, en-GB, Surtees' funeral took place on 30 July at Worth Abbey, near Turners Hill, West Sussex.NEWS,weblink Funeral for racing driver Surtees, BBC, BBC News, 30 July 2009, 2009-07-30, Surtees was buried at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Lingfield, Surrey; in 2017, his father John was buried next to him.

Legacy

In June 2010, a group of Surtees's school friends swam the English Channel in stints to raise money for charity in his memory. A cafe at his former school was also named The Pit Stop in memory of him.

Additional wheel tethers

Surtees' death along with an increasing number of accidents where wheels were torn off their mountings led to the number of wheel tethers being doubled to two per wheel for the 2011 Formula One World Championship season.NEWS, Gent, James, Extra wheel tether to be added for 2011, en, Autosport.com,weblink 28 July 2010, 30 August 2020,

Halo cockpit protection

The FIA introduced a mandatory titanium-carbon fibreNEWS,weblink All you need to know about Halo, ESPN.com, 2018-03-07, {{Citation|last=Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport|title=F1 Explained: The Halo|date=2018-02-07|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er71vu14PAI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/er71vu14PAI| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|access-date=2018-03-07}}{{cbignore}} "halo" cockpit protection structure for the 2018 Formula One and Formula 2 championships. Surtees's fatal impact was one of many simulated with the halo device, and the FIA concluded that Surtees's outcome likely would have been improved by the presence of a halo.NEWS,weblink Six key myths about F1's halo cockpit protection device busted, Cooper, Adam, Autosport.com, 2017-11-10, en, The utility of the halo, controversial when introduced, was borne out in the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix, when a wheel from the spinning and airborne car of Fernando Alonso solidly struck the halo structure of Charles Leclerc's car. The halo was credited with potentially preventing a serious injury to Leclerc, if not outright saving his life.NEWS,weblink Incredible pictures capture the moment halo device saves Formula One driver's life, NewsComAu, 2018-08-28, NEWS,weblink Renault : Much-maligned halo may have saved Leclerc's life after horror crash with Alonso {{!, MarketScreener|last=MarketScreener|access-date=2018-08-28}}

Henry Surtees Award

In 2010, the Henry Surtees Award was launched, to be awarded annually for the most outstanding performance by a rising motor racer. Its first winner was Formula Renault UK champion Tom Blomqvist.

Henry Surtees Foundation

Also in 2010,WEB,weblink HENRY SURTEES FOUNDATION - Overview (free company information from Companies House), beta.companieshouse.gov.uk, en, 2018-08-28, the Henry Surtees Foundation was founded as a charitable organisation by his father John, to assist victims of accidental brain injuries and to promote safety in driving and motorsport.WEB,weblink Henry Surtees Foundation, henrysurteesfoundation.com, 2018-08-28,

Racing record

Career summary{| class"wikitable" style"font-size:95%"

!Season!Series!Team!Races!Wins!Poles!F/Laps!Podiums!Points!Position! align="center" | 20062006 Ginetta Junior Championship>Ginetta Junior Championship|N/A 12 3 0 3 6 236 3rd! rowspan="4" align="center" | 2007Formula BMW>Formula BMW ADACMücke Motorsport>ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg 2 0 0 0 0 24 29thFormula BMW>Formula BMW UK Carlin Motorsport 18 1 1 2 8 491 6thBritish Formula Renault Championship>Formula Renault 2.0 UK 2 0 0 0 0 13 22ndBritish Formula Renault Championship>Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series 4 0 0 0 0 35 13th! rowspan="4" align="center" | 20082008 British Formula Three season>British F3 National Class|Carlin Motorsport 2 1 0 0 2 35 11th|Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup Manor Competition 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC†2008 Formula Renault UK season>Formula Renault 2.0 UK 20 0 0 0 1 203 12thBritish Formula Renault Championship>Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series 4 1 1 0 3 113 2nd! align="center" | 20092009 FIA Formula Two Championship season>FIA Formula Two Championship|MotorSport Vision 8* 0 1 0 1 8 14th!colspan="10"|{{center|{{small|Source:WEB, Henry Surtees,weblink Driver Database, 3 September 2023, }}}}† As Surtees was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

• Surtees died during round eight of the sixteen-round series.

Complete FIA Formula Two Championship results

((:Template:Motorsport driver results legend|key)) (races in bold indicate pole position) (races in italics indicate fastest lap){| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"! Year! 1! 2! 3! 4! 5! 6! 7! 8! 9! 10! 11! 12! 13! 14! 15! 16! DC! Points! 2009 Circuit de Valencia{{small>7}} Circuit de Valencia{{small>12}} Masaryk Circuit{{small>Ret}} '''Masaryk Circuit'''{{small>Ret}} Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps{{small>15}} Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps{{small>Ret}} Brands Hatch{{small>3}} Brands Hatch{{small>Ret}}Donington Park>DON1Donington Park>DON2Motorsport Arena Oschersleben>OSC1Motorsport Arena Oschersleben>OSC2Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari>IMO1Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari>IMO2Circuit de Catalunya>CAT1Circuit de Catalunya>CAT2! 14th! 8!colspan="19"|{{center|{{small|Source:WEB, Henry Surtees,weblink Motor Sport (magazine), Motor Sport, 3 September 2023, }}}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category}}

• {{DriverDB driver|henry-surtees}}