BRAWN WANTS CRASH PROBE
Why did the car split in two and barriers break?
FORMULA ONE chief Ross Brawn last night called on the sport to find out why Romain Grosjean’s vehicle exploded into a fireball.
The 34- year- old Frenchman was lucky to escape with minor injuries after his Haas car speared through metal barriers, splitting in two and bursting into flames on the opening lap of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
Grosjean will now miss the penultimate race of the season this Sunday, also in Bahrain.
Haas said treatment on the burns to Grosjean’s hands was “going well” but that he would spend another night in hospital. The American team expect that he will be discharged later today.
Grosjean is to be replaced by Brazilian reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, 24, the grandson of double world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, who will make his F1 debut.
Grosjean’s participation at the season- ending race in
Abu Dhabi a week on Sunday, set to be his last in the sport, is also uncertain.
Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, have already started their investigation and will analyse data from the car to determine what caused the crash.
There will also be careful scrutiny into why the vehicle veered through the metal barriers. F1 managing director Brawn said: “The FIA, working with the team, have to
understand the dynamics of what happened in the accident to see if improvements are possible.
“It was a pretty severe impact and there are limits as to what you’d be able to contain or control.
“But penetrating the barrier like that has to be understood. It also has to be understood why there was a fire and why the car broke in two.
“Hats off to everyone involved because the driver walked away from a huge accident.
“The FIA did a super job getting everything back in shape so that we could run the race in as safe a way as possible.”
Grosjean scrambled to get out of the burning wreckage for almost half a
minute before leaping to safety. But drivers including Sebastian Vettel have been critical over the failure of the trackside safety barriers.
It was testament, however, to the modern- day regulations that the once- controversial halo safety device prevented Grosjean from suffering serious injuries.
Brawn added: “Seeing Romain jump out of the car was a massive relief. Our producers didn’t put the footage out until they knew Romain was safe, which is our protocol.
“I think everyone is proud of the safety measures which have been developed over the last few years. The halo played a huge part.”
The FIA will ensure the same Bahrain track – which is due to stage Sunday’s Sakhir Grand Prix – is safe to host the Formula One circus again so soon.