The Worst Crashes of the Century

These are the biggest crashes of the 21st century.

And honestly, it was tough narrowing it down to just these.

So if you guys like the video, let me know and I'll whip up a part two.

So when you think of massive crashes, what pops into your head?

A pileup, maybe a cargo and airborne, and pure chaos.

Well, the crash that nails all of that has to be Joe Guanyu at Silverstone in 2022.

After qualifying ninth, Joe didn't exactly nail his start on Sunday.

Go Teefy?

Yep, none other than him.

Flew past Joe, and Gasly was charging up from behind.

Meanwhile, Russell had an even worse start.

So Gasly was about to squeeze between Joe and Russell when suddenly…

No words for that.

Absolutely insane.

And you know it's bad when other drivers jump out of their car to help.

Like Russell, who didn't waste any time running straight to Joe's car, stuck between the fence and the tyre barrier.

I mean, have you ever seen a car get trapped like that?

I know how claustrophobic it is inside a race car, and seeing him being trapped in that car, that's kind of like a driver's worst fear.

Soon, Joe was pulled out of the car and taken to the hospital.

And luckily, it was confirmed that he was completely fine.

It's moments like these that really make you appreciate how safe F1 is these days.

And honestly, I'm so fucking glad it is.

Luckily, I was walking off after

A driver who wasn't as lucky as Joe is Luciano Berti.

Most of you probably won't know him, since the Brazilian only raced in F1 for two seasons over 20 years ago in 2000 and 2001.

And the crash I'm about to show you isn't his only one.

This guy had some of the biggest crashes, whether it was his own mistake, someone else's, or his car failing.

Anyway, after not really impressing Jaguar in his four races in 2001, Bertie ended up at Prost, the team on its way out of F1.

He was desperate to make an impact that season, hoping some other team would notice him and keep him in the game.

So that, my friends, would end up causing one of the most terrifying crashes in F1 history.

We're at Spa.

Bertie is chasing Eddie Irvine.

The Brazilian is pushing hard, driving beyond his car's limits.

Then they come up to Blanchimont, this very high-paced left-hand corner, where Bertie goes for the overtake.

just wow bertie slammed straight into the wall at almost 170 miles per hour with a crazy 111 g impact 111 he just sank right into them leaving behind this insane scene the safety car obviously is out and leading the race

Irvine quickly ran to check on him as the marshals arrived.

They soon found out that Bertie's helmet was cracked in the front.

Yep, you heard it right.

Back then, drivers had a small hole for the drink tube, which created a serious weakness in the helmet.

It was seriously scary.

Bertie was rushed to the hospital, where they found he had a brain hemorrhage, almost in a coma.

But somehow, he made it through.

He soon began his recovery, and even though he never raced in F1 again, he ended up becoming a test driver for Ferrari.

But thankfully, after that crash,

They started covering tyre barriers with blankets at all tracks to stop cars from sinking under them.

A Brazilian I'm sure you know, Felipe Massa, got to test how well those tyre barrier blankets worked a few years later.

I'm talking about his crash at the 2009 Hungarian GP.

At the end of Q2, Massa was in 9th and could have been knocked out, but he was going all out to improve his time.

But then, out of nowhere, something really weird happened.

What the heck happened to him?

He just kept going straight.

And the worst part?

Listen to the engine.

Yeah, even after slamming into the barriers, he was still revving the damn thing.

That's never a good sign.

While we were all glued to the TV, hearts racing, Massa was rushed by helicopter to the Budapest Military Hospital for urgent treatment.

And everyone was left asking, what the f***?

just happened.

The replay showed a piece of debris smacking Mass' helmet just above his left eye while he was going over 160 miles per hour.

The hit was so brutal that it knocked him out cold.

Turns out, the debris was a spring from Barrichello's rear suspension, and he had actually said that something had come loose just moments before.

Massa got a head cut, skull bone damage, and a concussion.

He was in hospital for nine days straight and went through two surgeries.

The Brazilian began a slow recovery that kept him off track for the rest of the 2009 season.

Fortunately, he returned for 2010, where he scored two podium finishes in the first two races of the season.

But I think we can all agree that after that crash, Massa was never quite the same.

He never won another race or had a serious shot at a championship again.

I'll let you decide if the accident had anything to do with it.

Crashes like this made F1 take a closer look at head protection for drivers, leading to things like the halo.

But you know what crash really pushed that change?

This one's a tough one to talk about.

The 2014 Japanese GP will always be remembered for one thing.

Fanfone was looming over the Japanese coast and hit on race day October 5th, bringing buckets of rain.

The track was flooded, visibility was close to none, and chaos was guaranteed.

The weather was so incredibly bad, the emergency helicopter couldn't even take off.

But hey, they still thought, let's race!

The race kicked off behind the safety car, but with zero visibility and no grip, they threw up the red flag after just two laps.

About 20 minutes later, the rain calmed down a bit, and they gave it another go behind the safety car.

Finally, by lap nine, the real action was on.

Things were going kind of smoothly, and the conditions were getting better and better, with drivers switching to intermediates.

But by lap 36, heavy rain came back, and that's when chaos truly kicked in.

Drivers were making mistakes left and right, sliding off the track.

On lap 42, Adrian Souto went off at the Dunlop corner, crashing straight into the barriers.

yellow flags came out and a crane tractor yes a crane tractor came out to pick up the car with some marshals one lap later jules bianchi went off at the same corner

I have no words.

Only after that did the safety car come out, with the race being called off moments later.

But all anyone could think about was one thing.

Bianchi's condition.

His Mauritius was totally wrecked, and the 24-year-old French driver was rushed, unconscious, to the nearest hospital.

He had to be taken by ambulance.

After that, not much was known about what happened, and the drivers didn't even pop champagne on the podium.

Honestly, after everything that went down, no one cared about the result.

Initial reports from Bianchi's dad, Philippe, said that Jules was in critical condition, with a head injury, had surgery to reduce severe bruising to his head, and was being moved to intensive care.

It was not looking good.

The French driver's helmet slammed right into the crane tractor, stopping almost instantly.

The car took a hit with 58.8 Gs, but Bianchi's body got slammed with a mind-blowing 254 Gs.

Absolutely insane.

I can't even comprehend."

Two days later, the family shared that he had a diffuse axonal injury, one of the worst brain injuries possible, and was in an induced coma while going through severe surgeries and treatments.

Two months after the accident, the family was feeling hopeful, and Jules was even transferred to his hometown of Nice.

But sadly, he never woke up.

He was just a great human being, a very humble guy.

He left such a mark in the sport and will be remembered forever.

He was only 25.

As an F1 fan, this is the toughest moment I can remember.

It was the first fatal crash since Senna in 1994 and I had so many questions.

What the hell was a crane tractor doing on the track?

Why didn't the safety car come out straight after Sutil's crash?

The thing is, it was the usual procedure up until then, and it wasn't the first time drivers had come close to hitting a crane tractor.

And why the f*** did they go ahead with the race if the emergency helicopter couldn't even take off?

In F1, things only ever change after a tragedy.

But thankfully, 2014 kickstarted a lot of changes.

The next season, car safety was beefed up, and they introduced the virtual safety car so drivers couldn't ever continue racing in situations like these.

It was also what finally led to the halo being introduced in 2018.

Please, let's never forget about Jules and his legacy.

This year, his godson, Charles Leclerc, made his Formula One debut.

Charles has a mission, a mission to do what Gilles should have done.

The grandstands he saw built now rise for him, and for the first time in 93 years, this fabled race.

What Charles is doing is a continuation of Jules' legacy."

Rest in peace.

Yeah, obviously it's going to be missed a lot.

Coincidentally, 2018 had two of the worst crashes of the last 20 years, which really put the halo and security to the test.

The first one happened in Spa, when this went down at the start.

Did you just see that?

Alonso's car went right over Leclerc.

And just look at that.

If it hadn't been for the halo, the tire would have literally crushed his head.

But I think it's better to not even think about what could have happened.

It was Hülkenberg's fault.

He didn't brake in time and sent Alonso flying.

But F1 didn't catch a break, because in the second practice of the next race in Monza, there was another big scare.

Marcus Ericsson was on the main straight going over 210 miles per hour, when suddenly...

Crazy.

The car only stopped after how many?

Five?

Six flips?

It was completely wrecked.

Miraculously, Ericsson stepped out of the car without a scratch.

Apparently, he had an issue with his DRS, and it stayed open even though he braked, making him lose control of the car.

When he hit the wall and broke the suspension, one of the wheels got stuck under the car, causing it to flip.

That crash reminded me of Alonso's in Australia in 2016.

And yeah, I know in my Worst Crash of Every F1 Driver video, I said his biggest crash was Brazil 2003.

But since you all destroyed me for not including it, here it is.

It was lap 17, and Alonso was all over Esteban Gutiérrez's Haas.

On the second straight, he popped open the DRS, tucked into the slipstream, and went for the overtake.

But just as he was about to pass him at nearly 190 miles per hour…

No f***ing way.

While Gutierrez's car ended up stuck in the gravel, Alonso's was a complete wreck, flipped upside down, debris everywhere.

For a moment, it felt like disaster had struck again, but then… Alonso looks a little bit winded and a little bit shocked by that.

What an absolute miracle.

I guess the adrenaline kicked in, helping him get out that fast.

Honestly, seeing how the car ended up is nothing short of a miracle.

If you think that crash was scary, wait until you see this next one.

Let's go to Montreal 2007, a lap after the safety car pulls in still early in the race.

Robert Kubica is in 15th, chasing down Trulli's Toyota.

He's pitted early, so now's his chance to make up some ground.

So, determined, he goes for the inside of the hairpin to pass him, but messes up the timing.

What the hell?

This is hands down one of the most impressive crashes I've ever seen.

He just smashed into the wall at over 160 miles per hour, only to disintegrate as he flipped and hit the other wall.

There's no way someone can walk away from that.

Safety cars and ambulances out, while Kubica is rushed to the hospital.

With an accident this huge, all you can do is anxiously wait for news.

Thankfully, it turns out he's alright and talking.

And just a few hours later, they say it's just a sprained ankle.

Just a sprained ankle.

Unbelievable.

The Polish driver came back two races later and then won in Montreal the next year as a little revenge.

If you want to know more about his crazy story, and trust me, it gets much, much wilder, check out the full video I made about him.

And of course, subscribe to the channel.

If Kubica's crash shook us all, Mark Webber's accident in Valencia in 2010 was a close competitor.

Here's the deal.

The Aussie started second.

But a bad start and an early pit stop dropped him way down the order in the first few laps.

By lap 10, Webber was closing in on Kovalanen's Lotus for 17th.

With his red bull, it was only a matter of time before he'd get past.

But closing in?

A little too fast.

The car flew so high, it even hit the DHL logo above the barriers, slamming into them at a crazy speed.

But did you see that?

Miraculously, Weber wasn't really hurt.

He was just pissed off, so the first thing he did was chuck the steering wheel.

Then he did the same with the headset.

But...

If there's one crash that's seriously terrifying to watch, it's Romain Grosjean's at the 2020 Bahrain GP.

I'm sure a lot of you remember it.

I mean, how could you ever forget?

It all seemed like just another regular race start… Until, out of nowhere…

When I saw that life, my heart just stopped.

We've lost another driver, I thought.

It was Grosjean.

His car was completely engulfed in flames between the barriers.

The medical car got there super quick, to be fair, with the medical team and some marshals risking their lives, running up with fire extinguishers to try and help.

And yeah.

What you're seeing is real.

The car got split in half.

Simply terrifying.

And as the seconds ticked by, hope just kept fading.

I mean, who can survive something like that?

But, after 27 seconds in hell,

That's an act of God.

It was a miracle.

It was absolutely a miracle.

There's no f***ing way.

At that point, it was the last thing I expected to see.

But thank God.

It honestly looked like something out of a movie.

The French driver was taken to the hospital, and they confirmed he was mostly okay.

I just wanted to say I am okay.

Well, sort of okay.

Thank you very much for all the messages.

Of course he had serious burns on his hands and feet, but no real risk of anything severe.

Unreal.

I'm the man that walked out of fire."

Turns out Grosjean made a sharp turn after the third corner, crushed into Kvyat's racing line, and slammed into the wall at almost 120 miles per hour, hitting with 67 Gs of force, tearing right through it, and splitting his car in half.

From the halo, the helmet, the hands device, the cockpit, the headrest, and the fireproof overall, every little security improvement played its role in saving Grosjean from the impossible.

And of course, Dr. Ian Roberts, the FIA's medical rescue coordinator, Alan van der Merwe, the driver of the FIA F1 medical car, all played a huge part in saving him.

As much as I love to clown the FIA, I think we need to take a quick second and respect the work and improvements that have been made to reach this stage.

Obviously, it's motorsports.

It'll never be 100% safe, but F1 has come an incredibly long way.

This definitely wasn't always the case.

If you want to see exactly what I mean, watch this one next.

And as always, thank you for watching.