34-year-old French-Swiss racing driver Romain Grosjean of the Haas F1 Team is lucky to be alive after his car collided with a car driven by Russia’s Daniil Kvyat and ricocheted into a nearby barrier, splitting in two and bursting into flames during lap one of the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.
The dramatic incident led the race to be halted immediately, with the red flag brought out as medical, fire and clean-up crews rushed to the scene.
Grosjean could be seen emerging from the wreckage, with a fire brigade worker dousing him with fire retardant and marshals later assisting him in walking to safety.
Radio chatter from Kvyat’s Team AlphaTauri later featured a distressed Kvyat asking repeatedly for confirmation that Grosjean was safe and sound. “Tell me he is okay, please. Tell me he is okay!” Kvyat could be heard saying.
The size of the fireball was explained by the fact that the car was still loaded with fuel given that it was so early in the race.
Haas F1 released a short statement in the aftermath of the accident, confirming that Grosjean had sustained “minor burns on his hands and ankles but otherwise…is okay.” Later, the team added that he may have suffered a broken rib, and noted that at no point did he lose consciousness.
The track was eventually cleared of wreckage and the barrier repaired, with the race wrapping up with one other crash, with an unlucky Kvyat bumping Belgian-Canadian race driver Lance Stroll’s car, causing it to flip over.
The race was won by Briton Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, with the Netherlands’ Max Verstappen and Thailand’s Alexander Albon of Red Bull Racing-Honda taking second and third.