Bahrain’s night lit up with the new edition of the Formula 1 race. The cars ready, the lights went from red to off and the cars fired as usual, but with the first curve closed as usual. It was a few seconds when Hamilton stung in tip, for a change, and from the bottom there was an explosion. Grosjean’s Haas crossed paths with Kvyat’s Alpha Tauri and the Frenchman crossed (literal) the containment barrier, generating a fire in his ato that reminded everyone of the great accidents in history. From the flames, the pilot appeared. Whole but without a boot and with some of the helmet melted, but waving his hands by the heat that burned him. The miracle on the track went unnoticed in the first few minutes and over time it was a message. Car safety is increasingly decisive in saving lives. The halo, material changes and also complaints about the clues, which sometimes seem excessive, were summarized in that situation.
After hours and days, Grosjean feels better. Burns to his hands and left leg were the balance of a miracle. Already quieter, the pilot spoke of that night on which he was born again and told sensations, thoughts and the goal of closing this 2020 in his car to retire as it should be, crossing the finish line and the checkered flag.” It felt much more than 28 seconds,” the pilot began on the official Formula 1 site. “I see my visor turn orange, I see the flames on the left side of the car. I thought of a lot of things, including Niki Lauda, and I thought it wasn’t possible to end up like this, not now. I couldn’t finish my Formula One story like that,” he says.
“By my children, I told myself I had to go out. I put my hands in the fire, so I clearly felt it burn in the chassis. I went out, then I felt someone put on their suit, so I knew he was out,” he says of the moment track attendants sprayed him with the fire extinguisher, while the doctor was already waiting for him after arriving with the security car.” I was more afraid for my family and friends, obviously for my children, who are my greatest source of pride and energy than for me in the end. It’s the biggest accident I’ve ever seen. The car caught fire, exploded and the battery also caught fire, so it added a lot of energy to the impact,” adds Grosjean, which aims to run again in the last of the year.
“I think we’ll have to do a psychological job, because I really saw death coming. I’d say there’s a feeling of being happy to be alive, to see things differently. But there is also a need to get back in the car, if possible in Abu Dhabi (December 13), to end my history with Formula One in a different way,” he said.” It was almost like a second birth. Getting out of the flames that day is something that will mark my life forever. I don’t know if the word miracle exists or if it can be used, but in any case I would say it wasn’t my time,” Grosjean said, that in addition to being a category history he is the leader of the pilot group before the FIA.
