MANAMA, November 30 (Online): Romain Grosjean credited the halo protection bar with saving his life in a fiery crash that ripped his car in two on the opening lap of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday.
\nThe Frenchman\u2019s Haas speared through the barriers after careering off the track at high speed, with the force of the impact splitting the car in half and setting it aflame.
\nGrosjean, who clambered out and limped away from the crash, miraculously escaped with only burns to his hands and was being treated overnight at a nearby hospital.
\n\u201cHello everyone, just wanted to say I am okay, well sort of okay,\u201d the 34-year-old, his hand swaddled in bandages but his face smiling, said from his hospital bed in a video posted to his social media.
\n\u201cI wasn\u2019t for the halo some years ago but I think it\u2019s the greatest thing that we brought to Formula One and without it I wouldn\u2019t be able to speak to you today.\u201d
\nFormula One introduced the halo, a three-point titanium structure above the front of the cockpit designed to protect drivers\u2019 heads from flying debris, in 2018 and it initially attracted controversy.
\nGrosjean, who is out of contract and likely to leave Formula One at the end of the year, was one of those who was against it at the time, terming the day its introduction was announced a \u201csad day\u201d for the sport.
\nOn Sunday, his gratitude for its existence was echoed by others in the sport.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no doubt the halo was the factor that saved the day and saved Romain,\u201d Formula One\u2019s managing director for motorsport Ross Brawn said.
\n\u201cThere was quite a lot of controversy at the time about introducing it and I don\u2019t think anyone now can doubt the validity of that. It was a life-saver today.
\n\u201cUndoubtedly we\u2019ve got to do a very deep analysis of all the events that occurred because there were a number of things that shouldn\u2019t have happened,\u201d Brawn told Sky Sports television.
\n\u201cThe fire was worrying, the split of the barrier was worrying.
\n\u201cI think the positives are the safety of the car and that\u2019s what got us through today.\u201d
\nBrawn said barriers splitting was a problem from Formula One\u2019s far more dangerous past \u201cand normally it resulted in a fatality\u201d.
\nBrawn said the sport had not seen such a fire in many years, although the fuel cells were now built to be \u2018incredibly strong\u2019 and he suspected it was more likely to be due to a ruptured connection.
\n\u201cIt looked a big fire but those cars are carrying 100 kilos of fuel at that stage. I think if 100 kilos had gone up we would have had a massive fire. For me that was a fire of a few kilos of fuel.\u201d
\nDamon Hill, the 1996 world champion, said he was \u2018flabbergasted\u2019 by what he had seen and it was a miracle that Grosjean, a father of three, was alive.
\nSeven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, the race winner for Mercedes, was also thankful the halo had worked.
\n\u201cI\u2019m grateful that the barrier didn\u2019t slice his head up or something like that. It could have been so much worse,\u201d said the Briton.
\nRed Bull team boss Christian Horner agreed: \u201cHorrendous. An incident like that, I couldn\u2019t see a driver coming out of that,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cAll credit to the FIA. For a car to pierce a steel barrier like that and for the driver to survive, with the fire and everything else, it\u2019s all credit to the job that they\u2019re doing. And they\u2019re right to keep pushing.
\n\u201cYou\u2019re always learning in this business, not just about going faster.
\n\u201cRomain Grosjean is a very, very fortunate young man tonight.\u201d
\nHamilton also paid credit to the marshals and medical car team, the first on the scene.
\n\u201cIt is an amazing job the FIA have done. The marshals are the unsung heroes every weekend that we get to go out, those guys are there to protect us and they really are incredible in what they do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANAMA, November 30 (Online): Romain Grosjean credited the halo protection bar with saving his life in a fiery crash that ripped his car in two on the opening lap of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday. The Frenchman\u2019s Haas speared through the barriers after careering off the track at high speed, with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n