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Henry Surtees
Surtees pushing his Formula Renault car out of Parc Ferme at Oulton Park in 2008
Nationality	British
Date of birth	18 February 1991(1991-02-18)
Place of birth	Lingfield, Surrey, England
Died	19 July 2009 (aged 18)
Place of death	Whitechapel, London, England
FIA Formula Two Championship
Years active	2009
Teams	MotorSport Vision
Car no.	7
Starts	8
Wins	0
Poles	1
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	14th in 2009
Previous series
2008 2008 2007-08 2007-08 2007 2007 2006	British F3 Formula Renault WEC Formula Renault UK FRUK Winter Series Formula BMW ADAC Formula BMW UK Ginetta GT Juniors

Henry John Surtees (February 18, 1991 – July 19, 2009) was a British racing driver and the son of John Surtees.

Career

Formula BMW UK

Henry Surtees' father, John, was the only man to be World Champion on both two wheels and four wheels. Henry 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, Henry claimed one pole position (Thruxton), one race win (Donington Park) and two fastest laps (Rockingham and Snetterton) while driving for the very successful Carlin Motorsport team. The season was marred by penalties and a disqualification at Oulton Park.

Formula Renault

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. Henry would go on to finish 12th in the championship, including a third place finish during a wild race at Silverstone's National Circuit.^[1] 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 revelled with a win and a second in his two races in the National Class.^[2]

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.^[3] He scored a podium in the first of the two races at Brands Hatch, coming third, and achieved a pole position at Brno. Surtees' results placed him fourteenth in the championship, at the end of the season.

Death

Henry Surtees at Brands Hatch the day before his fatal accident.

At 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' helmet.^[4][5] The mass of the tire hitting his head, was 29 kg.^[6] 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. 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. His death was attributed to severe head injuries, inflicted by colliding with the wheel rather than the following crash with the barriers,^[7] and was announced later that day.^[8]

Surtees' funeral took place on July 30, at Worth Abbey, near Turners Hill, West Sussex.^[9]

Racing record

Career summary

† - As Surtees was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete Formula Two results

(key) (races in bold indicate pole position) (races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

• Henry Surtees' profile on Driver Database