Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean will stay in hospital overnight for observation following his horror crash in the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
It has been confirmed that Grosjean has suffered second degree burns to the back of both hands and the rumours of suspected broken bones have been quashed by doctors at the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital.
The Frenchman has released a video from his hospital bed, on his instagram account, where he seems in relatively good spirits:
Grosjean started the race from nineteenth place but was involved in contact through turn three with Scuderia Alpha Tauri‘s Daniil Kvyat, where the VF-20 smashed through metal barriers and split in two upon impact, before bursting into flames. Grosjean miraculously escaped with burns to the back of his hands, despite initially taking half a minute to fully extract himself from the car. The FIA’s medical crew, Alan van der Merwe and Dr. Ian Roberts were quickly on the scene, having followed the pack through the first lap of the race. Together with the marshals, they were quickly able to help rescue Romain and extinguish the VF-20. Dr. Roberts assisted Romain over the barrier as the Frenchman escaped the flames.
After Romain’s lucky escape, he was airlifted to the local military hospital for assessment, and where he will stay overnight.
Team Principal Guenther Steiner, praised the medical teams for their quick response, and couldn’t thank them enough for jumping to Grosjean’s aid without hesitation.
“We got fortunate today. The good news is that Romain is doing well considering what happened.” said Steiner. “We are thankful for all the safety advancements in modern Formula 1 in order to protect the drivers. We send a thank you to the FIA safety team and the marshals who were on-site immediately to help Romain get away from the scene.”
“As I said, I think we got lucky. We hope Romain will recover quickly from the injuries he sustained.”
The race started an hour after the collision, which gave time for Haas team members to recover the car along with marshals and for FIA officials, to oversee the crash site and erection of a temporary replacement concrete barrier.
Kevin Magnussen, Grosjean’s teammate crossed the line in seventeenth after starting from 18th place. At the restart, following the accident, Magnussen attempted to gain position, however his efforts were soon dashed when picking up damage from Lance Stroll’s RP-20 as it went rolling across the track. Later, a pit stop for a new front wing and a switch to new hard tyres left him down a few seconds on his nearest rivals. A safety car stint on lap 57 prompted a third pitstop but the race ended behind the safety car as marshal’s recovered Sergio Perez.
Kevin added: “Firstly, I’m just very, very happy to see Romain walk away from that crash – it was unbelievable. To see him survive that is frankly a miracle. I’m so happy that the halo was introduced, and it was on his car. Without it I’m sure it would have been very different. That’s really all from me today. I’m just happy that we’ve still got Romain.”
