The French driver Théo Pourchaire (18 years old) was the victim of a serious accident during the Grand of Saudi Arabia of Formula 2, the antechamber of F1. The accident occurred in Jeddah at the start of the grand prix and in the first lap. The racing car of the French native of Grasse and trained at the Autosport Academy in Le Mans was violently struck by that of the Brazilian Enzo Fittipaldi. The latter is the son of former F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Pourchaire (ART) started from the third row and could, before the start, claim the title of world champion in the category two races to go. If successful, he would have succeeded Mick Schumacher, Michael's son.
But on the starting grid, his engine stalled.
Many riders managed to avoid it, but not Enzo Fittipaldi, who hit him straight from the rear.
The two cars dragged themselves together for several hundred meters.
Théo Pourchaire got out of his car and took off his helmet #SaudiArabianGP 🇸🇦 # F2
- CANAL + F1® (@ CanalplusF1) December 5, 2021
For long minutes, no news fell on the state of health of the two pilots.
The images on television remained frozen on the stands.
The regulation, rather logical, prohibits showing images of care.
At that time inevitably came to mind the memories of the dramatic accident of another Frenchman in Formula 2, Anthoine Hubert.
It was in 2019 and the young pilot did not come out alive.
For nearly an hour, the marshals therefore brandished the red flag, a sign of the stopping of the race.
But without giving any news.
It was therefore necessary to deal with the rumors which gradually fell.
🔴 Imágenes desde la grada, del accidente of # F2 between Pourchaire y Fittipaldi que nos pone los pelos de punta.
Hope that todos is fine… 😰
pic.twitter.com/ryBLnA39my
- Santi López 🏁 # F1 (@ F1Santi) December 5, 2021
They seemed reassuring.
According to the first echoes, Théo Pourchaire was able to get out of his car alone.
He was therefore conscious and was able to remove his helmet on his own.
He was taken to the nearest hospital.
For a longer time, nothing filtered out on the state of health of his Brazilian colleague.
But he too was finally able, according to initial reports, to get out of his car alone.
He too was taken to the nearest hospital.
At 4.45 p.m., the race counting for the Formula 2 World Championship was able to resume.