Henry Surtees dead after Brands Hatch accident

Henry Surtees was 18 years old when he was struck by a flying wheel at the Brands Hatch Circuit in Kent, England, in the FIA Formula Two Championship series' second race of the weekend at his home venue.

Henry Surtees.

Photo by www.formulatwo.com.

Surtees and Jack Clarke were in Westfield Bend when Clarke hit the wall at the exit of the corner, causing his wheel to come loose and strike Surtees in the head. He was knocked unconscious and his Williams JPH1 went off the track.

The officials immediately red-flagged the race and the medical team was quickly on the scene. Once the young Brit was removed from his car, he was taken to the track's medical center. Surtees was stabilized before he was transported by air to The Royal London Hospital in nearby Whitechapel.

A spokesperson for the hospital confirmed that Surtees had died from his injuries in the evening (local time).

Surtees was the son of legendary John Surtees, the winner of four FIM motorcycling world chamionships in the late 1950s, and of the 1964 Formula One world championship -- still the only man to win top-level championships on both two and four wheels.

Henry Surtees joined the newly formed Formula Two series after racing mainly in the Formula Renault 2.0 series. Yesterday, he became the first Briton to scored a podium finish in the series. He finished third in Saturday's race one.

"It's a bit of a relief really to pick up the podium! I only have two points so far this season even though we've had a pole in Brno and been fast in the other rounds. It's nice to actually finish a race - I haven't quite been so lucky in the last four races, so it's good to finally get a solid points finish," Henry Surtees commented after his home podium finish yesterday.

His single-seater career started in 2007 in the Formula BMW European series. His first Formula Renault 2.0 ride was in th same year. Last year, Surtees contested two British Formula 3 National class events where he had one win and one other podium finish.

The staff of Motorsport.com extend their condolences to the Surtees family.