French racing driver Anthoine Hubert died following a high-speed crash during a Formula Two race at the Belgian Grand Prix, motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, said on Saturday.

The 22-year-old was hit by Ecuadorian-American driver Juan Manuel Correa after he had already gone off into the barriers at the Spa-Francorchamps track's fast Raidillon corner in an incident involving multiple cars.

“As a result of the incident, the FIA regrets to inform that the driver of car 19, Anthoine Hubert, succumbed to his injuries, and passed away at 18:35,” the governing body said in a statement.

Correa, who was also injured in the crash, was in a stable condition and was receiving treatment at the CHU Liege hospital, the FIA added.

The incident occurred on the second lap of the race, which was initially suspended then abandoned.

Hubert’s death is the first driver fatality at a Formula One race weekend since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at Imola in 1994.

Jules Bianchi, who suffered serious head injuries at the Japanese Grand Prix in October 2014, succumbed to his injuries in July the following year.

Formula Two is a feeder series and support category to Formula One and races on the same weekends.

Mick Schumacher is currently in his first season in series, whose field includes drivers supported by Formula One teams.

Hubert was a Renault-backed driver.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc seized pole position for the Belgian Formula One GP ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel who completed a front row lockout for Ferrari.

The Monegasque, who has topped every session but one this weekend, lit up the timing screens with a lap of one minute, 42.519 seconds.

He was the only driver to go quicker than the one minute 43 second mark.

Vettel, hoping to end his victory drought that goes back to last year’s Belgian race, was hindered by traffic on his fastest lap and ended up 0.748 seconds adrift. He was very nearly beaten by Lewis Hamilton who took third.