Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Bahrain International Circuit, 2020

Hamilton: “Horrifying” Grosjean crash could have been much worse

2020 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton said he feared Romain Grosjean could have suffered much worse injuries in his shocking first-lap crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Haas driver has been taken to hospital with minor burns and a suspected rib fracture after striking a barrier with a 53G force on the first lap of the race. The impact broke his VF-20 chassis into two pieces and caused a major fire, which Grosjean extricated himself from.

“It was such a shocking image to see,” said Hamilton, who won the race which was restarted following a delay of almost 90 minutes.

The world champion said he hopes Grosjean’s extraordinary escape reminds people of the dangers of motorsport.

“When I get in the car I know I’m taking risks and I respect the dangers that are in this sport,” he said. “I posted about it whilst I was in that break because it’s horrifying.

“The cockpit, I don’t know what Gs he pulled, but I’m so grateful the Halo worked, I’m grateful the barrier didn’t slice his head off or something like that. It could have been so much worse.

“It’s a reminder to us and hopefully to people that are watching that this is a dangerous sport and that is why we are out there and pushing to the limit and playing with that limit. We all have to respect it.”

Hamilton also praised the FIA’s work in improving safety standards in Formula 1.

“It shows the amazing job that Formula 1 has done [and] the FIA has done over time to be able to walk away from something like that. Of course that will be investigated and they will do a lot of work to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

He admitted he found it difficult to re-focus on the race following the lengthy disruption.

“It really was physically very demanding,” he said. “I think with the break that we had at the beginning – you get into a mindset, you go out, you get a good start and then that 45 [minute] to an hour wait that we had, it’s so easy to step out of the zone. So that was quite tricky.”

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen kept Hamilton within range for much of the race. “They had a lot of speed today,” said Hamilton. “So I was flat-out the whole way trying to keep them at bay.

“This track has always been physical. You’ve got lots of high-speed corners so I was definitely feeling it. I managed to just about reply to him when I needed to.

“But I was sliding around out there and I wasn’t sure how it would play out at the end. So I’m massively grateful to my team because they did a great job with the strategy and what a privilege it is to be able to get another result like this.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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13 comments on “Hamilton: “Horrifying” Grosjean crash could have been much worse”

  1. Good ol’ Lewis can’t help making it about himself, even when something horrifying like this happens:

    1. It was inevitable

  2. Good ol’ Lewis can’t help making it about himself, even when something horrifying like this happens:

    “When I get in the car I know I’m taking risks and I respect the dangers that are in this sport,” he said. “I posted about it whilst I was in that break because it’s horrifying.”

    1. Eh? I mean…What? Why? You took negativity from this interview?
      Says more about you than Lewis. Might be a good idea if you had a bit of a lie down.

    2. How did you arrive at that conclusion. If he was asked to give an opinion, its expected that he talks about it as if it’s his opinion.

      If he said “they” or “you”, you can guarantee that he would be criticised for suggesting he’s better than everyone else.

      Seems it really doesn’t matter what he says (when asked) those that dislike him will always make sure it’s about him. It’s really quite sad.

    3. Nik (@nickelodeon81)
      29th November 2020, 19:00

      Perhaps it is you that is making this about Hamilton. No-one else is.

    4. Yes I noted that if you discard what he said about Grosjean, the other drivers, the FIA, the marshalls, F1, the halo, the RB, the dangers of motorsport, etc it was all about him.

  3. Nik (@nickelodeon81)
    29th November 2020, 18:45

    Hamilton is right. If Grosjean lost consciousness after a +50g crash he wouldn’t have released his restraints and climbed out so fast.

  4. Yes and he was playing with a slider, we all saw on tv. So yes he was very worried, he was actually playing…

    1. And he cannot forget about twitter not even on this moments. Please respect the other drivers, and not try to gain fame in every moment please.

      1. The post was in response to Steiners and started ‘I’m so grateful Roman is safe…..’
        Sounds to me like you are the one disrespecting Roman by using his situation to have a go at Hamilton.

      2. As you can’t seem to stop advancing your hate boner for Hamilton by disrespectfully using Grosjean’s situation, hmmm Ian dearest?

  5. Can you begin to imagine how much stress those drivers are under. Yet you expect the perfect answer.
    The perfect gesture, and behaviours, and language, to reflect how you would feel and speak and act in the
    same situation. They are not actors delivering a carefully scripted line.

    So what if he was playing with a slider, or for that matter posting on twitter. One way of adapting to
    stress is to maintain a routine, or do something familar. Or don’t you get this? I’m sure Hamilton was
    also showing concern for the reactions of his younger fans when he took the opportunity to post online.

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