We are so thankful that Romain Grosjean was able to walk away from this. We did not need a reminder of the bravery and brilliance of our drivers, marshals, and medical teams, nor of the advances in safety in our sport, but we truly got one today#BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #F1 pic.twitter.com/z8OeTU5Nem
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 29, 2020
Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix in Bahrain this weekend, but the victory was perhaps understandably overshadowed by Haas driver Romain Grosjean’s mind-boggling fiery crash near the very beginning of the race.
One reason the crash garnered so much attention aside from it looking like the kind of thing you don’t walk away from is the fact Grosjean essentially walked away from it with relatively mild injuries.
On the first lap, Grosjean veered off the track after the third corner following some contact with Daniil Kvyat and his Haas car ploughed into the barriers, exploding on impact and breaking in half.
The French driver miraculously emerged from the flames after several seconds and was immediately tended to by the track side emergency services.
Grosjean reportedly got out of that horrific wreck with “light burns on hands and ankles,” according to Haas Team leader Guenther Steiner.
The Haas Team released a statement via Grosjean’s Twitter account as well.
Haas F1 Team Statement: Romain Grosjean – Medical Update. pic.twitter.com/v0rJzaWtRa
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) November 29, 2020
It said that he would stay in the hospital overnight for burn treatment but there were no broken bones. A video of the driver himself, hands bandaged and in a hospital bed, was posted on Grosjean’s Instagram account. In his caption, the driver said he “might not be able to reply to all the messages I got for a while,” but that he thanked fans “for all the support” as well as “the FIA and medical crews that took care of me.”
Grosjean signed off with, “Hope to see you all soon 💪.”
Winner Lewis Hamilton also tweeted about his competitor’s close call.
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 https://t.co/dG8AXmsbKN
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) November 29, 2020
“I’m so grateful Romain is safe,” Hamilton said in the tweet, “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.”
Naturally, Grosjean’s crash caused a long pause in the race. After it restarted Hamilton went on to win with Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Alex Albon snagging second and third places. It was Hamilton’s 95th career win.