Lewis Hamilton relieved Romain Grosjean’s “head not sliced off” in “horrifying” crash

Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton relieved Grosjean’s “head not sliced off” in “horrifying” crash

F1 champion says lucky escape for Haas driver proves F1 safety success

Will Gray

Sunday 29 November 2020 18:40

Lewis Hamilton admitted the crash of Romain Grosjean in the opening stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix left him 'horrified'.

Hamilton’s 11th victory of the season was overshadowed by the dramatic scenes at the start of the race, where Romain Grosjean’s Haas speared through the safety barriers and burst into flames.

Grosjean miraculously escaped from the accident and was subsequently taken to hospital.

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Hamilton said: “It was such a shocking image to see. When I get in the car I know I am taking risk and I respect the dangers that are in this sport. It’s horrifying.

“I don’t know what g's he pulled, I am so grateful the halo worked, I am grateful that the barrier didn’t slice his head off or something like that, it could have been so much worse.

“It is a reminder to us and the people watching that this is a dangerous sport. We are playing with the limit, but you have to respect it. It shows an amazing job F1 has done, the FIA, over time to be able to walk away from something like that.”

Hamilton, who has now led more than 600 laps this season, took his second consecutive win in Bahrain, finishing behind the safety car after Sergio Perez’s Racing Point parked up in flames a few laps from the end.

It was Mercedes driver Hamilton’s fourth win in Bahrain but he sounded flat over the car radio, admitting: “it wasn’t as easy as you’d think” and looked exhausted as he extracted himself from the car.

Speaking immediately after the race, he explained: “It really was physically very demanding. With the break we had at the beginning, you get into a mindset, get a good start, then the 45 minute to hour wait it is easy to get out the zone

“But getting back in they had a lot of speed to so I was flat out the whole way, trying to keep them at bay. This track has always been physical, lots of high-speed corners, I was definitely feeling it.”