SAKHIR: Formula One driver Romain Grosjean miraculously scrambled out of the blazing wreckage of his car almost unscathed, apart from minor burns to his hands and ankles, helped by a brave marshal.
CRASH: His Haas car careened into a barrier before splitting in two and bursting into flames after clipping the AlphaTauri driven by Daniil Kvyat and demolishing a barrier on Lap one of the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2020.
The stands of Bahrain International Circuit were full of first responders, Covid-19 frontline workers and their families who heartily applauded the marshals and track rescue crews who jumped into action.
Grosjean, 34, who achieved his first ever podium driving for Lotus at the Sakhir circuit in 2012, was placed on a stretcher and taken away by ambulance for treatment in hospital as the red flag halting the race was waved.
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said: “Romain is doing OK, I don’t want to make a medical comment but he had light burns on his hands and ankles. Obviously he’s shaken ... I want to thank the rescue crews who were very quick.
The marshals and FIA people did a great job, it was scary.”
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Waiting for the restart in pole position, world champion Lewis Hamilton said: “I’m so grateful Romain is safe. Wow ... the risk we take is no joke, for those of you out there that forget that we put our life on the line for this sport and for what we love to do.
“Thankful to the FIA for the massive strides we’ve taken for Romain to walk away from that safely.”
The race was delayed for an hour and 20 minutes as urgent repairs were carried out on the barrier and the thrills and spills continued shortly after the restart.
BANG: A yellow flag was waved after Racing Point driver Lance Stroll’s car flipped over. He was pulled from under the wreckage by marshals as others using fire extinguishers made sure that it did not burst into flames too.
After an investigation, Kvyat was found responsible for the accident, since he interfered with Stroll’s racing line.
WALLOP: In Lap 55 fellow Racing Point driver Sergio Perez’s car caught fire bringing out the third safety car of the night.
The only predictable outcome was polesitter Hamilton winning his 95th race in style followed by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Grosjean provided an update to his fans last night from his BDF Hospital bedside, saying he was ‘sort of OK’ and mentioned that although he was against the halo device when it was first introduced, it had saved his life.
The halo is a driver crash-protection system and consists of a curved bar placed to protect the driver’s head. The first tests of the halo were carried out in 2016.
He also thanked well-wishers for their messages, the team at BIC and the hospital staff.
The action gets back on track next weekend in Bahrain.
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