Bahrain Grand Prix – Haas’ Romain Grosjean has issued a short video message to indicate he’s largely unscathed following his horrific Lap 1 crash in the Bahrain GP.
Romain Grosjean was lucky to escape with his life after going through a huge crash on the first lap of the race. Extricating himself from the wreckage of the car, Grosjean was brought to the Medical Centre before being brought to Bahrain’s Defence Force Hospital for further treatment.
Haas were quick to announce that Grosjean was largely fine after the horrific accident, with the team issuing a full statement hours after the race.
“Following medical evaluation by doctors at the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Hospital Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean will remain in hospital overnight to be treated for burns sustained on the back of both hands after his opening lap incident at the Bahrain Grand Prix. All X-rays performed on Grosjean came back clear of fractures.”
Grosjean will stay overnight in the hospital for treatment, and recorded a short video to reassure fans.
“Hello everyone. I just wanted to let everyone know I’m OK, well…sort of OK. Thank you for all your messages.”
Grosjean, as head of the Grand Prix Driver’s Association, was a vocal critic of the introduction of Halo in 2017, saying: “I’ve made myself clear from the beginning on this – we don’t need anything for this. I’m against all of them, the Halo, the Shield, whatever, it’s just not Formula 1. The Shield is just as bad as Halo.”
Understandably, his crash has changed his opinion on this: “I wasn’t for the Halo some years ago but I think it’s the greatest thing we’ve brought to Formula 1 – without it, I wouldn’t be able to speak to you today. Thanks to all the Medical staff at the circuit and at the hospital. Hopefully I can write back some messages soon and tell you all how it’s going.”
Haas have reported that Grosjean’s impact was logged at 53G – a huge figure, with the car’s logger hitting 221kph immediately prior to striking the barrier.
Team boss Guenther Steiner praised the medical team for their fast work helping Romain away from the flames, saying that Formula 1 ‘had an angel looking on’ over the day’s events.
“We got fortunate today.” Steiner said. “The good news is that Romain is doing well considering what happened. 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 – there’s not a lot more to say. We hope Romain will recover quickly from the injuries he sustained.”
