Zhou feared F1 car would catch fire with him trapped inside

SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Trapped upside down inside his mangled car, Zhou Guanyu felt something leaking. He wasn't sure what it was, but the Formula One driver knew that it potentially raised the risk of his car exploding in flames and him being stuck inside.

“I didn’t know where I was because I was upside down, and the next thing I felt was some leaking. I was not sure if it was from my body or from the car,” he said. “I knew if a fire started it would be difficult to get out, so I switched my engine off and then everything was fine.”

Zhou, a 23-year-old Chinese driver for Alfa Romeo, on Thursday matter-of-factly explained his agonizing wait to be freed from his car following a terrifying first-lap crash at last Sunday's British Grand Prix. The car was wedged between fencing and a tire barrier at the first corner and rescue crews struggled to reach him in such an unusual position.

With thoughts of fire racing through his mind, Zhou said he also held his head to stop it bumping against the side, but didn’t know much else about his position.

The crash at Silverstone brought the race to an immediate halt after the car flipped and slid upside-down across the gravel and over a tire wall into the retaining fence. The car was skidding on the halo, a frontal cockpit protection device, with Zhou's helmet frighteningly close to the track surface. Then it went airborne.

Zhou still can’t explain how he walked away with minor bruising.

“I had a little bit of bruising but it was all fine after one day. I don’t know how I walked out with such little impact on my body," Zhou said ahead of this weekend's Austrian GP in Spielberg. “It’s nice to be back here and especially not having such a long time. So you don’t think about what