The day after his release from hospital, Romain Grosjean traveled to the Sakhir circuit on Thursday, where he almost died in a terrible accident on Sunday. The French driver from the Haas team came to thank all the staff of the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix who helped to put it out of the flames after 28 interminable seconds. The miraculous man who wore a protective boot to treat his sprained ankle as well as heavy bandages on his hands after his severe burns first paid a visit to Haas team manager Günther Steiner.
He then took the direction of the paddock to meet his saviors. In a video, the 34-year-old native of Geneva is seen thanking the pilot of the medical car Alan van der Merwe as well as the doctor Ian Roberts who had come to his aid to help him out of the flames after the accident on the first lap. The single-seater had left the track at 220 km / h before being cut in two and catching fire in a safety barrier at the edge of the track.
Roberts, at the cost of burns to his face, had approached the flames to pull the pilot out of the flames while Van der Merwe sprayed him with a fire extinguisher. Grosjean thanked them at length with wide hugs. Before pointing out to the director of the circuit that the change of the barrier cut in half was welcome. “But I’m not going to run,” the Haas pilot joked. He finally went to two representatives of the civil security of the Kingdom of Bahrain who had immediately crossed the circuit to come up to the accident car. “Is that you crossed the track?” », He asked. “I saw on the videos. You had the presence of mind to watch where I was. Thanks for saving my life. “
An open investigation
The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has announced that an investigation will be opened to determine the exact circumstances of the accident and the effectiveness of safety elements such as the halo. It “will look at every aspect, including safety equipment, such as the helmet, the HANS ( Editor’s note: frame fixing the helmet to the headrest ), safety harness, protective suit and clothing, survival cell ( Editor’s note: reinforced interior ), the headrest, the in-car fire extinguisher system and the halo ( Editor’s note: frontal cockpit protection system ) ”, Specifies the FIA. Results should be known within six to eight weeks.
