Romain Grosjean jumps out of the huge ball of fire, survives a dangerous crash
Sakhir, 29 Nov 2020: Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean escaped safely from a huge ball of fire, as his Haas car met with a huge crash and hit the barriers and the car caught fire immediately in the very first lap of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship double leg here on Sunday.
The race was red flagged and stopped immediately. The car hit the metal barriers with such force that it split into two pieces and burst into a huge ball of flame. The driver, Grosjean, had a miraculous escape and it was a pleasant surprise to see him jump out and he was guided to safety as marshal used fire extinguishers to douse his racing suit. The Frenchman ejected himself out of the car but was assisted later and taken to the medical centre. Later, Formula 1 tweeted, quoting Guenther Steainer, Haas Team Principal: “Romain is doing okay, 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 are very quick. The marshals and FIA people they did a great job, it was scary.”
I’ve not seen that much fire and an impact like that. Romain started to get out of the car himself which is pretty amazing after an impact like that. All the systems we’ve developed, the halo, the barriers, the seat belts – everything worked like it should, said Alan van der Merwe, Medical Car Driver. Since it is still the first lap, the medical car was behind and they immediately came to the rescue of driver, who ejected himself out which was a huge tribute to safety measure implemented by FIA in the recent years.
Indian F1 driver and current F1 commentator Karun Chandhok was one of the first to react and he tweeted: “Oh. My. God. Romain (@RGrosjean) may be the luckiest man on the planet today. So, so happy to see him get out of that car. He would not have escaped from that a few years ago. The FIA’s work in the past 5 decades has saved his life.” He said adding a hashtag `Lucky’.
“It was the chassis structure around the fuel tank that failed, leaving the fuel tank exposed. The component lying on the floor at the rear of the chassis is the battery pack, tweeted Gary Anderson, former Jaguar and Jordan F1 Technical Director and F1 Commentator. Karun agreed and added: “I could see the engine mounts off the back of the chassis. Having 100 litres of fuel and batteries exposed like that was explosive… So lucky Romain was conscious.”
FIA president Jean Todt said: So relieved that @RGrosjean is safe. Thanks to Dr Ian Roberts and the @FIA teams for their courageous and efficient intervention. We have always put safety at the top of our priorities and will continue to do so.” His tweet with a photo of Grosjean jumping the barrier received 2500 likes within 20 minutes.
One Ferrari fan posted praising the Halo, which was introduced by FIA as a safety measure: “French journalist @Julien_FEBREAU received a message from Jules Bianchi’s mother that said: “They introduced the Halo following my son’s accident and the Halo saved Romain’s life today. This is great. I’m glad that he’s okay.”
BBC’s Chief F1 writer Andrew Benson said: “Grosjean hits the wall head on at the exit of Turn Three and the car splits in two behind the cockpit. The front of the car appears to have separated the barrier in longitudinally. Looks as if the halo could have been crucial in saving Grosjean, at first evidence.”
Lance Stroll crashes after Re-start
The race was restarted after about 90 minutes and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll had a crash and landed upside down but safely came out of the car and the race continued under yellow flags and safety car. Stroll gave an okay on the radio and walked out to safety.
At the fag-end, Stroll teammate Sergio Perez, in third place saw his Racing Point catch fire and had to pull out leaving both McLarens finish in 4th an 5th to overtake Racing Point for third place in the Constructors’ title and millions more in funds.
FIA Statement
The FIA advises that an incident occurred during the opening lap of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix today, 29/11/2020, involving car #8, Romain Grosjean.
The driver was immediately attended to by emergency and medical crews. The driver self-extricated, and was conscious at all times. He was taken to the medical centre before being transferred to Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Hospital by helicopter where he is undergoing further evaluation.
Updates will be given when further information is available.
