Gunther Steiner wanted to recall the terror experienced during Romain Grosjean's accident almost 4 years ago.
In November 2020, Grosjean's Haas hit the barriers during the Bahrain Grand Prix, at 220 km/h with a full load of fuel, before catching fire.
After a few interminable seconds of waiting and horror, Grosjean jumped from his damaged car, with only burns on both of his hands in the end.
“The biggest reflection is that we were lucky. Someone looked out for us,” recalls the former Haas F1 director, with emotion.
“It was the shortest – and longest – 30 seconds of my life. You know if it doesn't come out now, then it won't come out…I've been racing cars for a long time and, when you see that fireball, you know he doesn't survive unless he gets out of it pretty quickly.”
“The only way to survive is to jump out of the car. As you try to regain control over the situation, the terror jumps out. And it's over, everything is okay. The most important thing is that he's alive. It's a breeze and we say to ourselves that he's still here, and that we'll take care of the rest.”
“Now I don't look back negatively because he got away with it. Think about the positives. The safety of these F1 cars, without the Halo he would have had no chance of getting away with it. “
“And the people around him who helped him. He was lucky, but F1 created its own luck by being strict on safety. After any incident that happens, they introduce new measures to make the safer situation.”
“After that accident, modifications were made to the car so that this couldn't happen. There was nothing wrong with the car. But we had never experienced anything like this. We couldn't fake it.”
“I remember the positive aspects. I give a lot of credit to Jean Todt, the president of the FIA, who pushed through the Halo system because a lot of people were against it. People make decisions and they ensure that these miracles occur.”
