Frenchman Romains car torn and in flames as he escapes with minor burns and suspected broken ribs at Bahrain GP; Lewis Hamilton watches in dismay
Flames envelope the International Circuit following a crash involving French Formula One driver Romain Grosjean during the Bahrain GP yesterday. Pics/AFP, Getty Images
Romain Grosjean escaped with minor burns and suspected broken ribs after suffering a horrific crash that halted the Bahrain Grand Prix on the opening lap.
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The Frenchman’s Haas car was torn in half and engulfed in flames as it speared through protective barriers immediately after the start, following contact with the AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat.
Stewards and medics attend to Haas F1’s driver Romain Grosjean
The impact was measured at over 50G, according to a spokesman for the sport’s governing FIA. “[Romain] is stable and being taken by helicopter to the BDF MC Military Hospital for further evaluation,” the governing body said. A spokesman for Grosjean’s Haas team said he had suffered minor burns on his hands and ankles and had one or more suspected broken ribs.
The remains of Grosjean’s crashed car is removed from the track
Emphatic Hamilton
“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,” Lewis Hamilton, who TV pictures showed shaking his head in disbelief as he watched the replays, posted on social media.
“Thankful to the FIA for the massive strides we’ve taken for Romain to walk away from that safely.” Formula One’s safety push has reduced fatalities in the sport by several-fold. The death last year of Formula Two racer Anthoine Hubert at the Belgian Grand Prix was the first fatality at a
Formula One race weekend since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Jules Bianchi suffered serious head injuries in a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix in October 2014, succumbing to them in July the following year.
Replays showed Grosjean, who doesn’t have a drive and won’t be on the grid next season, exiting his flaming car unaided and jumping over the safety barrier. Marshals rushed to extinguish his burning car while FIA medical delegate Dr. Ian Roberts rushed forward to help him while marshals extinguished his burning car.
Limping, he was then helped to an ambulance. Grosjean’s Haas team boss Guenther Steiner said the halo head protection device introduced in 2018 had saved the Frenchman’s life.
“When you see what is going on out there, if you see the barrier that is torn down, it’s unbelievable,” said Steiner. “I think we were lucky by being unlucky. I prefer that luck to racing luck. We got away with it, I think.” The race was eventually restarted after nearly an hour-and-a-half following repairs to the barriers.
Stroll’s car flips upside down
Drama ensued immediately as Lance Stroll’s racing point was flipped upside down after a collision with Kvyat. The incident brought out the safety car but the Canadian was unharmed and the race soon resumed and settled into rhythm. Hamilton, who equalled Michael Schumacher’s record haul of seven titles at the last race in Turkey, was leading from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Sergio Perez in the Racing Point was third.
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