SAKHIR, BAHRAIN: Formula One driver Romain Grosjean appeared to escape with minor burns after his car crashed and burst into flames moments after the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 34-year-old French driver slid off the track on the first lap and his Haas car burst into flames after being sliced in two by a barrier. Grosjean clambered out with the fire roaring behind him and his race helmet singed.
Governing body FIA said Grosjean is stable and being taken by helicopter to a military 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 team principal Guenther Steiner said. “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 stuck inside the flaming wreck for nearly 10 seconds before somehow finding a way out. Race footage showed safety officials reaching the car immediately but with Grosjean still trapped inside. He managed to find a way out and jumped through the flames and gripped the boiling hot metal barrier as he jumped over back onto the track, shaking his hands in agony before being helped by the stewards.
Moments later, Grosjean was shown on television chatting with the race doctor in the medical car.
Grosjean was then helped out of the car and into an ambulance. He appeared to be shaken but did not immediately seem injured other than a slight limp.
Drivers and team members stood and applauded as they saw the images of Grosjean climbing over the barrier to safety and being sprayed with a fire extinguisher.
Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton expressed his relief on Twitter while waiting 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 an extraordinary escape after Grosjean’s car was sliced in half upon impact with the barrier.
The accident happened when Grosjean lost grip and slid to the right, where his back wheel clipped the front of Daniil Kvyat’s Alpha-Tauri and he flew off into the barrier.
Grosjean’s teammate Kevin Magnussen looked distressed when he saw the footage as drivers waited in the paddock for the race to restart, while officials returned to the site of the crash to pick up debris littered around the destroyed car.
Officials worked quickly to build a makeshift crash barrier where the old one was destroyed.
The race restarted about 1 1/2 hours later with the positions of the drivers when the crash happened. Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton was leading, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Force India’s Sergio Perez.
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