F1 driver Grosjean escapes after horror crash at Bahrain GP – WATCH

Formula One driver Romain Grosjean appeared to flee with minor burns after his automotive crashed and burst into flames moments after the beginning of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

The 34-year-old French driver slid off the observe on the primary lap and his Haas automotive burst into flames after being sliced in two by a barrier. Grosjean clambered out with the fireplace roaring behind him and his race helmet singed.

Governing physique FIA stated Grosjean is secure and was taken by helicopter to a army hospital.

 

“Romain is doing okay, I don’t want to make a medical comment but he had light burns on his hands and ankles,” Haas group principal Guenther Steiner stated. “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.”

Grosjean was caught contained in the flaming wreck for practically 10 seconds earlier than by some means discovering a means out. Race footage confirmed security officers reaching the automotive instantly however with Grosjean nonetheless trapped inside. He managed to discover a means out and jumped via the flames and gripped the extraordinarily sizzling metallic barrier as he jumped over again onto the observe, shaking his fingers in agony earlier than being helped by the stewards.

Moments later, Grosjean was proven on tv chatting with the race physician within the medical automotive.

Grosjean was then helped out of the automotive and into an ambulance. He gave the impression to be shaken however didn’t instantly appear injured aside from a slight limp.

Drivers and group members stood and applauded as they noticed the pictures of Grosjean climbing over the barrier to security and being sprayed with a hearth extinguisher.

Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton expressed his reduction on Twitter whereas ready for the race to restart.

“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,” Hamilton wrote. “Thankful to the FIA for the massive strides we’ve taken for Romain to walk away from that safely.”

It appeared a unprecedented escape after Grosjean’s automotive was sliced in half upon affect with the barrier.

“I’ve never seen that much fire in 12 years. It took a little while to process what was going on but then Romain started to get out of the car himself, which was amazing,” stated Alan van der Merwe, the driving force of the F1 medical automotive. “Everything worked hand in hand today: the halo, the barriers, the seat belt. Without one of things it could’ve been a different outcome.”

The halo is a security gadget that kinds a protecting ring across the drivers’ head. It was launched following the dying of French driver Jules Bianchi after he sustained large head trauma on a rain-soaked observe on the Japan GP six years in the past and went headfirst right into a trackside crane. Two years in the past Charles Leclerc — Bianchi’s shut good friend — was doubtless saved severe harm or dying by the halo when one other automotive landed on high of his on the Belgian GP.

The accident occurred when Grosjean misplaced grip and slid to the appropriate, the place his again wheel clipped the entrance of Daniil Kvyat’s Alpha-Tauri inflicting him to fly off into the barrier.

Grosjean’s teammate Kevin Magnussen seemed distressed when he noticed the footage as drivers waited within the paddock for the race to restart, whereas officers returned to the positioning of the crash to select up particles littered across the destroyed automotive.

Officials labored shortly to construct a makeshift crash barrier the place the outdated one was destroyed.

The race restarted about 1 half of hours later with Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton main, forward of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.