Much has already been written about Romain Grosjean’s death-defying ordeal that replayed across the globe and has gone viral as the lead story on just about every website on the internet.
That he survived the fireball was a miracle but, before that, he would have been split in half, as the Haas impacted the barrier with 50Gs and split in half, but for the halo – which was introduced to the sport a couple of seasons ago – did the most important job: keeping Romain alive in the cockpit on impact.
#F1 #BahrainGP Meanwhile from the hospital…. #MsportXtra https://t.co/kJEavZpLav
— #MsportXtra (@MsportXtra) November 29, 2020
After the race, before any driver reported for interviews, F1 sporting Chief Ross Brawn went live first and said, “We need to do a deep analysis of what occurred. The fire is worrying, the split barrier is worrying. Barriers splitting was a classic problem many years ago and normally resulted in a fatality.
“There’s no doubt the halo is the factor that saved the day and itsaved Romain. The team behind it need credit for forcing it through. I don’t think anyone can doubt the validity of the halo. It was a lifesaver today.”
“It was a high G load and we have to look at how things failed. The car came apart and we had a fuel fire, which we have not had for a long time.
“Those cars are carrying 100kgs of fuel and if that went up, it would have been a very big fire. There will be some careful scrutiny between now and the next race and action will be taken that needs to be done.
“It is something we have not seen in a long time and something we did not predict,” explained Brawn.
The last time an F1 car was subject to such an aggressive and powerful accident, during a race, was when Fernando Alonso crashed the McLaren at high-speed during the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, the car also splitting in half with the Spaniard lucky to walk away shaken and with some bruising.
At the time there was no halo on the cars, however, thankfully there were no metal barriers but rather a wall of tyres.
We are so thankful that Romain Grosjean was able to walk away from this. We did not need a reminder of the bravery and brilliance of our drivers, marshals, and medical teams, nor of the advances in safety in our sport, but we truly got one today#BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #F1 pic.twitter.com/z8OeTU5Nem
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 29, 2020
Full report in the accident here>>>