Surtees urges improvements in safety

The 18-year-old son of the 1964 Formula 1 world champion died from head injuries after being struck by a wheel and tyre in a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch last month.

Following Felipe Massa's accident in Hungary last weekend, when he was hit on the helmet by a spring at more than 160mph, Surtees is eager for changes to be made to reduce the risk of similar incidents in future.

"Why did that wheel come off and why was it able to travel at that velocity? There are things to be learnt," Surtees told BBC South News. "Bernie Ecclestone was on the phone this morning talking to me about that very same thing.

"We have got to make certain that his death isn't in vain. There will be progress - this is the way that motorsport and competitive people are."

Surtees said that Massa had already spoken to him following Henry's accident, before the Hungarian Grand Prix, and that both incidents were "freaks" by modern safety standards.

"It is freakish, these coincidences, and out of it will come something better. I lived through a period when there were absolute tragedies to drivers, partly because of the circuits but partly because of the cars of the time. It wasn't until the larger money came into motorsport that you got the safety levels you have today.

"Motor racing compared to other things is so very safe, that is the irony of it."

Surtees also spoke about his son in his first interview since Henry's death on July 19.

"I reached down into the cockpit on the starting line at Brands Hatch and we shook hands," he added. "We bid each other farewell, as it turned out.

"At the moment it is a big emptiness, I still expect him to bounce through the door. We will just have to live with it and make sure we remember the good times."

The family is in the process of setting up the Henry Surtees Foundation and asked for donations at his funeral to go to brain injury charity Headway.