F1 honors lost drivers with an emotional run in the rain at Spa

As the rain fell over the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on a foggy day in the middle of the Ardennes forest, the crowd began to grow on the main straight.

Thursday evening is not a time the Formula One paddock would typically come together. But even as the rain — which is set to persist through the Belgian Grand Prix weekend — kept coming down, more and more people wearing shorts and sneakers began to congregate.

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It was all for a good cause. Organized by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, the F1 paddock was joining together for a run in memory of Anthoine Hubert — Gasly’s close friend who was killed in a Formula 2 race at Spa in 2019, and was a member of Alpine’s young driver academy when the team was known as Renault.

Gasly had planned to organize the “Run for Anthoine” event for months. But it took on extra meaning after the death of Dilano van ’t Hoff, an 18-year-old driver, in a Formula Regional race at Spa at the start of the month.

“We’re all a community, and when these kinds of things happen, I think small events, even if it’s only a run, but it’s a way of gathering all the community together, everyone who is part of Formula One,” Gasly said on Thursday afternoon.

“It’s a small circus. We’re a thousand people traveling the world altogether. We live a very unique life. I think it’s very different from any other sort of jobs, what we’re having. I think it’s great that we’re able to get together for these special occasions.”

T-shirts reading ‘Racing for Anthoine’, including Hubert’s star logo, were handed out to everyone on the main straight, numbering a couple of hundred people. Just before leading the group of runners away from the starting grid, Gasly stood on top of a truck and addressed the crowd.

“It was important for me to organize it just to remember a great friend of ours, two great friends of ours, amazing drivers that we lost, Anthoine and Dilano,” said Gasly.

“I think it’s (important) just for us as a community and a sport, as a big motorsport family together, to remember these two amazing talents. It’s a very special place, very emotional place, and I just really appreciate you getting all together.

“I really hope we never get to lose any of us in the future.”

Clutching a bouquet of flowers, Gasly led the group of runners away to La Source before the downhill run to the bottom of Eau Rouge. After climbing up the hill to Raidillon, Gasly stopped at the barrier where Hubert crashed, to lay the flowers. He remained stooped for a minute, taking his time to pay his respects. Gasly had written “prove them wrong” on a card in the flowers — the advice Hubert offered him weeks before his death when Gasly lost his Red Bull seat.

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Formula 3 drivers Gabriele Mini and Gregoire Saucy, van ’t Hoff’s family members and Formula 2 boss Bruno Michel all left flowers at the corner and paid their respects. A small round of applause followed the tributes before the run continued to the start of the Kemmel straight, where van ’t Hoff lost his life. More flowers were laid, including by van ’t Hoff’s MP Motorsport team members, many of whom were visibly tearful. F1 drivers including Zhou Guanyu, Esteban Ocon and Charles Leclerc also paid their respects to Hubert and van ‘t Hoff.

With the final tributes made, the runners kept going to complete the remaining 5.5 kilometers of the lap. One by one, we took the long straight run to Les Combes, swooped downhill into the forest through Malmedy, Bruxelles and Pouhon, made it to the tip of the circuit at Stavelot and then began the 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) gradual uphill stretch toward Blanchimont and the final chicane before finishing the lap. Even in the rain, we all kept going, everyone finishing in their own time and congratulating each other upon crossing the line.

Running for Anthoine 🌟

A really wonderful event arranged by @PierreGASLY bringing the F1 paddock together for a track run this evening, paying tribute to Anthoine Hubert and Dilano van ‘t Hoff.

12/12 track runs for the year, by far the most important 🙏

— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) July 27, 2023

It was a big reminder from Gasly of the importance of F1’s community. Drivers and teams are rivals on the track — even the media competes for stories — but ultimately, we are all a family.

Because Gasly is correct in saying it is not a normal life. The jet-setting image of the sport is often a long way from the truth, the challenges faced by everyone who goes from race to race, the emotional rollercoaster, the sacrifices made back at home and while on the road. The paddock works as an extended support network. In the worst of times, times of unfathomable, painful loss, we rally together.

A run in the rain might not be how many expected to end their first day at the track this week, but it symbolized far more than that — especially for Gasly, who admitted he would “never forget what I felt going down these stairs when my parents told me the news” that Hubert had died.

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“It might be a small thing for people,” Gasly said of the run. “But it’s a lot bigger for me. A lot more meaningful.”

(Lead photo of Pierre Gasly: Dean Mouhtaropoulos – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)