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• Romain Grosjean sends his best wishes from a hospital bed in Bahrain.
• Grosjean survived a terrible crash in the opening seconds of the Bahrain GP.
• He suffered burns to his hands and feet.
• For more motorsports stories, visit www.Wheels24.co.za
Romain Grosjean was in a good mood just 12 hours after an accident that nearly claimed his life. The Haas driver attempted an overtaking maneuver in the opening seconds of the 2020 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix, but missed the timing and contacted Daniil Kvyat’s Alpha Tauri.
Grosjean’s car went off the track and hit the barriers and caught fire immediately. In what seemed like an eternity, the driver emerged from the fire after managing to unbuckle himself and climb over the barriers before being taken to safety by FIA medic Dr. Ian Roberts.
Early reports suggested that Grosjean suffered burns to his arms and legs, as well as some broken ribs. Upon arriving at the hospital and undergoing an emergency checkup, he suffered only second-degree burns to his hands and feet. Other than that, the Frenchman lives to see another day. He will not compete in this weekend’s Sakhir GP, held in the same venue as the Bahrain GP, and has been replaced by Pietro Fittipaldi.
See Grosjean’s thank you message below, posted on the Haas Team Twitter Page.
The halo
In a previous videoGrosjean told everyone, also via the team’s Twitter page, that he is fine and that the halo device saved his life. For those of you who don’t know, the halo was introduced in the 2018 season as a form of head protection in the event of an accident. Just looking at two major incidents in F1 in the last 11 years, the head injuries of Felipe Massa in Hungary 2009 and Jules Bianchi, Japan 2014, something had to be done to avoid serious injuries.
Following various concepts, ideas, concepts and tests, the FIA and F1 decided on the halo that would be placed over the cockpit, keeping the ‘open cockpit’ for which F1 is known. While it may seem like an accessory that is not very pleasant to look at, it has a much larger purpose: saving lives.
When Grosjean’s car collided with the barrier, it split in half, with the front half, with Grosjean inside, ending up on the other side of the barrier. The back half lay yards from the track. If it weren’t for the halo, Grosjean might have lost his life yesterday. The halo, capable of supporting a weight much higher than a bus, deflected the barrier away from the driver’s head, allowing him to remain conscious and get out of his burning car.
F1 has come a long way when it comes to safety, and the fact that Grosjean walked away from such a near-death experience is testament to that.
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