Zhou Guanyu has refused to watch the crash that almost claimed his life during last year’s British Grand Prix.

The Alfa Romeo driver was involved in a horrific incident at the start of the race at Silvertone, resulting in him being flipped upside down.

Travelling at speed off the track and into the gravel, Zhou’s car eventually flipped back over, but straight into the gap between the catch-fencing and the tyre barrier.

The Chinese driver managed to escape unharmed thanks to a combination of factors, but recognises in returning to the scene of such a traumatic incident is not easy.

“For me even to think about what happened that day, I have to put my mind back to what actually happened,” said Zhou, speaking to the media, including Speedcafe, ahead of this weekend’s British GP.

“The main thing is it’s off my mind, it’s in the past, but obviously there is a bit more emotion than usual, coming back to Silverstone. I’m actually looking forward to it because last year was a good run before what happened on Sunday.”

Reflecting on his pre-race track walk, Zhou said: “They (the FIA) has taken some action in terms of the run-off area into Turn 1. It’s the right direction forward in case anything happens.”

As for reflecting on what transpired that day and whether that was something he did on occasion, he replied: “Thankfully not!

“After the incident, obviously I went to the medical centre, and I had a look at what happened because somebody hit me from behind.

“I wanted to know what happened that made me flip. Since then I’ve never watched any video. Pictures, of course, they’re hard to avoid because some fans can bring it up but it happened.

“It was a huge crash, a scary one, but nothing really distracted me after that.”

Zhou feels he owes his life to the halo, luck, and one other factor that played a part.

“The priority was the halo at the time because, obviously, I was upside down, at such a high speed for such a long time, sliding into the gravel, so that definitely saved me,” he said.

Addressing the assistance from the on-board camera, he said: “I definitely saw that after the crash.”