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Damon Hill

Hill expecting FIA review into Spa tragedy

An 18-year-old was killed in a FRECA race at the Belgian GP venue on Saturday.

Damon Hill
Article
To news overview © XPBimages

1996 Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill has insisted the FIA will "look into" the factors surrounding the tragic death of Dilano van 't Hoff at Spa-Francorchamps.

The 18-year-old MP Motorsport driver succumbed to injuries sustained in an incident during FRECA's round at the Belgian venue in treacherous conditions.

Van 't Hoff was collected by a rival in an incident similar to that which claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert in 2019 in F2, with both happening at Radillon with cars returning to the racing line after a crash.

The section of track at Spa has been renovated since Hubert's incident, with a number of other serious crashes taking place at Eau Rouge and Radillon, though concerns will return over the safety of the circuit.

Risk concealed

"I think anytime you have got a long straight and wet conditions, this can happen," Hill told Sky Sports F1.

"Wet conditions really are the worst contributor to this, not being able to see where you are going. By the sound of it, it sounds like he was hit in the same way Anthoine was hit while he was stationary on the track, so a very large impact.

"What can we do about it? Stop racing in the wet, only race when you can see or make cars indestructible in that way and make it more possible for drivers to survive.

"The FIA will look into all of those factors."

F3's first race of the weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix took place in wet conditions akin to those at Spa for FRECA and Hill added: "I am as guilty as anyone, watching the F3 race saying 'come on, we want to see a wet race'.

"We want to see wet racing because it is exciting and action happens, but unfortunately it does conceal this terrible risk of something like this happening."

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