Grosjean out of next F1 GP after escaping fiery crash

SAKHIR, AFP: French driver Romain Grosjean will sit out next weekend’s Formula One race after escaping a fiery high-speed crash in the Bahrain Grand Prix with just burns to his hands, his team Haas said on Monday.

Grosjean walked away from the wreckage after he collided with Daniil Kyvat’s Alpha Tauri on the first lap of Sunday’s race, causing the Haas car to split in half and burst into flames as it smashed through the safety barriers at 225 kph.

Haas said treatment for the burns that 34-year-old Grosjean suffered was “going well” and he was expected to be discharged from hospital yesterday.

Grosjean escaped alive thanks to the integrity of his car’s survival cell, his ‘halo’ device, which deflected the ruptured Armco metal barriers away from his head, his own presence of mind in remaining calm as he extricated himself and the rapid skilled assistance of F1’s medical staff and track marshals.

“Hello everyone, I just wanted to say I’m okay, well, sort of okay,” the Frenchman said in an Instagram post. “Thank you very much for all the messages.

“I wasn’t for the ‘halo’ some years ago, but I think it’s the greatest thing we brought to Formula One and, without it, I wouldn’t be able to speak to you today.” Brazilian driver Pietro Fittipaldi – grandson of two-time world champion Emerson Fittipaldi – will make his Formula One debut in place of Grosjean in the Sakhir Grand Prix, also in Bahrain, next Sunday.