Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Todt: F1 needs to quickly understand "scary" fiery Grosjean crash

FIA president Jean Todt says the "scary" return of a fiery crash to Formula 1 is something the series quickly needs to understand following Romain Grosjean's horror Bahrain shunt

As F1's governing body begins a detailed investigation into Grosjean's escape from his terrifying accident at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Todt said the way the car burst in to flames was a key issue for him.

In an exclusive video interview with Autosport.com, Todt admitted the Grosjean crash had been "scary" to watch, but it was the fire aspect that had surprised him the most.

"I think we all lost memory of a car catching into fire and into flames," said Todt.

"So we need to understand why it happened.

"I must say, I don't remember a lot of accidents where you see the car cut in two pieces like that. But again, we need to have good expertise.

"It's seems the monocoque resisted very well. Can you imagine how will be his legs, his feet, if a monocoque did not resist, which is absolutely outstanding.

"And then a lot of things were the result of improvement."

Todt says that while F1 safety measures worked in many ways to save Grosjean's life, the FIA would look into why the Frenchman's hands got burned.

"We need to understand the gloves, because his hands are slightly burned second degree," said Todt.

"So we need to understand what has happened, for clearly him and the doctor, because the doctor, his overalls were also burnt."

While Todt said there was satisfaction from the way that the Halo had helped save Grosjean's life, he pointed to other aspects of the crash that showed more could be done.

"You cannot anticipate the way a car could leave the track as it happened," he said.

"The angle was determined because he touched the wheel of Daniil Kvyat and then went straight into the barriers in a place where you would not expect a car to leave the road.

"Then the car with 100kg of fuel, when it was cut in two, we need to understand that. It probably hit at over 200 km/h the rails, and we know that if the Halo had not been there, I don't want to think about what would have been the tragedy."

Grosjean had been one of the drivers against the introduction of the Halo in 2018, and it was something that Todt made reference to when he visited the Frenchman in hospital on Sunday night.

"I went to see immediately when he was in the medical centre in the circuit," he said.

"The only thing is that I wanted him to speak with his wife in order that she could hear his voice, which was important.

"Then when I went the second time to visit him in the hospital, I said: "so, you like the Halo?'

"But he was not the only one yesterday to comment on how important it was, who had been against it earlier.

"But again, that is not a problem. You know, it's not a problem. I'm not interested to be right. I'm interested to participate and to make the right decisions."

While the Halo did its job as expected, some other elements of the accident were down to good fortune, such as the incident happening near the first corner on the opening lap so the medical car could be quickly on the scene.

The safety vehicle arrived at Grosjean's fire just nine seconds after the blaze started.

Todt added: "In a way it is fortunate to have the medical car following the group of Formula 1 [cars], because it was just after the start. So they could be there very, very quickly."

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article How Hamilton tried to isolate himself from COVID
Next article Grosjean targeting F1 return for Abu Dhabi GP

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe