Haas confirm car modifications made following Grosjean fireball crash

Haas

Haas confirm car modifications made following Grosjean fireball crash

Fuel hatch and headrest have been altered

Ian Parkes

Thursday 4 March 2021 14:51

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has confirmed modifications have been made to this season's car following Romain Grosjean's fireball crash last year.

Grosjean was fortunate to escape with his life following the first-lap accident in the Bahrain Grand Prix which resulted in his Haas being ripped in two and bursting into flames after colliding with a barrier.

The severity of the accident resulted in a highly forensic probe being initiated by the FIA to understand the reasons behind what unfolded and to ensure additional safety improvements can be made.

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The results of those findings are to be handed to the World Motor Sport Council on Friday, which is understood to include recommendations regarding the fuel tank hatch and headrest design mounting.

Images after the accident showed the hatch open, while according to Grosjean's own account of the accident, the headrest mounting delayed his extraction from the car.

While the crash investigators have simply made recommendations in their report, Haas has opted to make immediate changes.

"The report comes out tomorrow," said Steiner, in a media session that included GPFans Global.

"I think the biggest one is the fuel hatch cannot be attached to the chassis any more, and we are working on the headrest to make it smaller.

"The headrest is still there but in parts, so it cannot get stuck when it comes off."

As to why his team had opted to make the changes, Steiner added: "We've changed because we think it is better to do it in a different way.

"You always learn out of these situations. Everything was within the regulations, with what happened. There was nothing wrong with our car.

"It's just it had never happened before, and what happened was a very strange incident, to rip off half of the chassis.

"If there is a better solution then we should try to adopt them all the time. You always learn and you always need to stay up with the times."