WATCH: F1 Safety Car Carries a French Flag to Honour Anthoine Hubert During Parade Lap

It is race day today. However it is not a usual one. If you still haven’t heard, we lost a young 22 year old F2 driver Anthoine Hubert following a massive crash in Spa yesterday. He was declared dead in just 60 minutes after his accident with American racer Juan Manuel Correa, who himself is under Intensive Care after his surgeries.

There were multiple tributes for Hubert throughout the day, as were reported by us earlier. During the parade lap, the safety car led the drivers with a French flag by its side to mark the Frenchman who lost his life yesterday. It was a touching move, something we really admire from the FIA’s side.

Further, the visual of Charles Leclerc when the parade went across the corner of the accident got us attention. It is no doubt that Leclerc was close with Hubert, being roughly of the same age and having competed thoroughly in the junior series. Leclerc was seen being consoled by Binotto earlier post the minute of silence that took place before F3 race.

So when the parade was passing through the corner of yesterday’s accident, Leclerc closed his eyes and offered his condolences to his departed friend. He was seen getting almost numb unable to even look at the corner. Here, watch the video of the same:

Being the pole sitter, he will be hoping that he is able to take the race victory today and dedicate it to Anthoine Hubert. It will be a difficult race for Leclerc, severely under pressure while also under such emotional distress. After the tragic loss of Jules Bianchi, another such loss in Leclerc’s life will require him to showcase a lot of strength to pull through.

All the teams are running special liveries with a mark of respect for Hubert on it while some drivers were also seen wearing black arm bands. All in all, we just hope it’s a clean race and no one gets hurt. Driver safety is more important than anything.