When the FIA confirmed the halo for 2018 (“a titanium roll cage placed over the cockpit to minimise the risk of drivers being struck by debris,” in Mercedes’ words), Crash.net counted “Grosjean among the most vocal of those against the device.” “Personally, I think it is a sad day for Formula One when it was announced,” he said in July 2017. “I am still against it.”
On November 29, 2020, “During the opening lap of the Bahrain GP, Romain Grosjean’s car was travelling at 241 km/h when he lost control on the exit of Turn 3 following contact between his right rear wheel and Daniil Kvyat’s left front wheel,” the FIA’s investigation found. His car “impacted the triple guardrail barrier behind the run-off area at 192 km/h,” with “a resultant peak force equivalent to 67g,” and “the survival cell was able to pierce the barrier.” “The car suffered extensive damage during the impact including separation of the power train assembly from the survival cell.” “Fire was ignited during the final moments of the barrier impact, starting from the rear of the survival cell and progressing forwards towards the driver as the fire grew,” and “Romain Grosjean’s left foot was initially trapped as the car came to rest.”
“So I tried again, I’m stuck,” he told Sky Sports. “I sit back down, all my muscle relaxes, and I was almost at peace with myself, thinking, I’m dead. I will die.” Then, he said, “I thought about my kids [Grosjean has three] and I said, no. I cannot die today.” To Formula1.com he put it this way: “Then I think about my kids, and I say ‘no they cannot lose their Dad today.’” “The driver was able to free his foot by withdrawing it from his racing boot leaving the boot in the entrapped position in the car,” the FIA says. “I saw my gloves – they are red normally and they started to go full black,” Grosjean said. “I knew I had my hands in the fire … But I’m going up.”
“The FIA Medical Car arrived within 11 seconds of the incident,” the FIA says, with “FIA F1 Medical Car Driver Alan van der Merwe” and “the FIA F1 Medical Rescue Coordinator Dr Ian Roberts.” Roberts “went immediately to the scene of the incident and instructed a marshal to operate the dry powder extinguisher around the cockpit.” He told Sky Sports F1 that “the extinguisher was just enough to push the flame away as Romain got high enough,” and “then to reach over and pull him over the barrier.” “I jump on the barrier, then I feel Ian [Roberts, FIA medical delegate] that pulls on my overall,” Grosjean said. “Romain Grosjean was able to egress unaided and was out of car after 27 seconds,” the FIA found; he “suffered burns to the back sides of both hands” and “escaped with significant but not life-threatening injuries.”
That night, in a video from his hospital bed reported by Formula1.com, he said: “I wasn’t for the halo some years ago but I think it’s the greatest thing we brought to Formula 1 and without it I wouldn’t be able to speak to you today.” Formula 1’s Ross Brawn said there was “absolutely no doubt the Halo was the factor that saved the day and saved Romain,” RaceFans reported, and the FIA found that the “Halo frontal cockpit protection performed according to their specifications in protecting the driver’s survival space.”
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- His car split in two and burst into flames, and he couldn’t get out. FIA: “The car suffered extensive damage during the impact including separation of the power train assembly from the survival cell” … “Fire was ignited during the final moments of the barrier impact” … “Romain Grosjean’s left foot was initially trapped as the car came to rest.” Grosjean, to Sky Sports: “So I tried again, I’m stuck.” 12
- His name is Romain Grosjean. FIA: “the Swiss-born French driver Romain Grosjean crashed into the barrier … and his Haas F1 team car caught fire.” 1
- He’d been against the halo, a titanium frame over his head. Crash.net: “Grosjean among the most vocal of those against the device”; Grosjean: “I am still against it.” Mercedes-AMG F1: “a titanium roll cage placed over the cockpit to minimise the risk of drivers being struck by debris.” 68
- He called it a sad day for Formula One. Grosjean, to Crash.net (July 27, 2017, after the FIA confirmed the halo for 2018): “Personally, I think it is a sad day for Formula One when it was announced.” 6
- In Bahrain, at 150 miles an hour, his car clipped another. FIA: “During the opening lap of the Bahrain GP, Romain Grosjean’s car was travelling at 241 km/h when he lost control on the exit of Turn 3 following contact between his right rear wheel and Daniil Kvyat’s left front wheel”; the race was “on November 29, 2020.” (241 km/h is about 149.7 mph.) 1
- It pierced a steel barrier at 67 times the force of gravity. FIA: “Romain Grosjean’s car impacted the triple guardrail barrier behind the run-off area at 192 km/h” … “and a resultant peak force equivalent to 67g” and “the survival cell was able to pierce the barrier.” 1
- Fire spread toward him, and he was stuck. FIA: “Fire was ignited during the final moments of the barrier impact, starting from the rear of the survival cell and progressing forwards towards the driver as the fire grew” and “Romain Grosjean’s left foot was initially trapped as the car came to rest.” 1
- His body relaxed, and he thought, “I will die.” Grosjean, to Sky Sports: “I sit back down, all my muscle relaxes, and I was almost at peace with myself, thinking, I’m dead. I will die.” 2
- Then he thought of his three children. Sky Sports: “but I thought about my kids [Grosjean has three] and I said, no. I cannot die today.” 2
- “No, they cannot lose their dad today,” he said. Grosjean, to Formula1.com: “Then I think about my kids, and I say ‘no they cannot lose their Dad today.’” 3
- He left his shoe in the car, and climbed through the fire. FIA: “The driver was able to free his foot by withdrawing it from his racing boot leaving the boot in the entrapped position in the car.” Grosjean, to Sky Sports: “I knew I had my hands in the fire … But I’m going up.” 12
- His red gloves were turning black. Grosjean, to Sky Sports: “I saw my gloves – they are red normally and they started to go full black.” 2
- A marshal’s extinguisher pushed the flames back. FIA: “Ian Roberts went immediately to the scene of the incident and instructed a marshal to operate the dry powder extinguisher around the cockpit.” Ian Roberts, in The Race: “the extinguisher was just enough to push the flame away as Romain got high enough.” 17
- Then a doctor, Ian Roberts, pulled him over the barrier. Roberts, in The Race: “then to reach over and pull him over the barrier.” Grosjean, to Sky Sports: “I jump on the barrier, then I feel Ian [Roberts, FIA medical delegate] that pulls on my overall.” FIA: “the FIA F1 Medical Rescue Coordinator Dr Ian Roberts.” 721
- He was out in 27 seconds, burned but alive. FIA: “Romain Grosjean was able to egress unaided and was out of car after 27 seconds” … “Romain Grosjean suffered burns to the back sides of both hands” … “escaped with significant but not life-threatening injuries.” 1
- The halo he was against saved his life. Grosjean, that night, as reported by Formula1.com: “I wasn’t for the halo some years ago but I think it’s the greatest thing we brought to Formula 1 and without it I wouldn’t be able to speak to you today.” RaceFans: Formula 1’s Ross Brawn, “absolutely no doubt the Halo was the factor that saved the day and saved Romain.” FIA: the “Halo frontal cockpit protection performed according to their specifications in protecting the driver’s survival space.” 451
Sources
- FIA concludes investigation into Romain Grosjean’s accident at 2020 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix and releases 2021 circuit racing safety initiatives (March 5, 2021) FIA
- Romain Grosjean exclusive: Haas driver was ‘at peace’ with death as he recounts dramatic Bahrain crash (Matt Morlidge, December 4, 2020) Sky Sports
- Grosjean speaks: On how he escaped fiery crash, his secret injury, whether he’ll race again – and more (Lawrence Barretto, December 4, 2020) Formula1.com
- Grosjean describes halo as ‘greatest thing’ from hospital bed, saying he ‘wouldn’t be here without it’ (November 29, 2020) Formula1.com
- Former Halo critic Grosjean declares it’s ‘the greatest thing we’ve brought to F1’ after crash (Keith Collantine, November 29, 2020) RaceFans
- Hungarian GP: It’s a sad day for F1 – Grosjean on Halo (July 27, 2017) Crash.net
- ‘His visor was melted’ – F1 medic describes Grosjean’s escape (November 29, 2020) The Race
- INSIGHT: Introducing the Halo (February 8, 2018) Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
Notes
27 or 28 seconds: the FIA says he was “out of car after 27 seconds”; Grosjean and many reports say 28 (“it was 28 seconds but for me it felt like one minute 30,” he told Sky Sports). The Short uses the FIA’s 27.
Speed: the FIA’s investigation gives 241 km/h (about 150 mph) when he lost control and 192 km/h into the barrier. A figure of about 220 km/h from the team’s data, reported on race night, and other estimates in popular clips are not used; the Short gives only 150 mph and 67g.
Blame: the FIA describes contact between his right rear wheel and Daniil Kvyat’s left front wheel and blames no one. The Short says only that his car “clipped another.”
The marshal: a Bahraini fireman is reported at the scene, but no source we read says whether he held the extinguisher, so the Short and this page say only “a marshal’s extinguisher.”
“The man who walked out of the fire” is a media label and is not used.
Romain Grosjean, his family, Ian Roberts, Alan van der Merwe and Daniil Kvyat are alive. Only what they have said in public is used. His injuries are given only in the FIA’s words (“burns to the back sides of both hands”); there are no photos of his burns, no other medical detail, and his children aren’t named. His hospital video isn’t shown; its words are quoted from Formula1.com’s report.
Pictures: no free photo or film shows the crash, the fire or the rescue. The burned car is shown as it is displayed today: at The Formula 1 Exhibition in Madrid, photographed by Steve (Flickr: mrlaugh) on April 13, 2023 (the torn survival cell, where the rear of the car was ripped off, and the cockpit, cropped) and by 5225C on July 13, 2023; and at The Formula 1 Exhibition at ExCeL London, photographed by Hullian111 on February 20, 2025 (the remains from several sides, the burned halo and the burned steering wheel; four of these are cropped, leaving out visitors’ faces and the exhibition’s video screens). His own cars are his number 8 Haas with the halo at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix weekend (June 29, 2018) and a 2020 Haas VF-20, the model that burned, at preseason testing in Barcelona on February 20, 2020 (not proven to be the same car). The Bahrain International Circuit is seen from a SkySat satellite on November 2, 2017, and the medical car is the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Estate, the model used in 2020, at the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 4, 2019. Grosjean himself is at the Malaysian Grand Prix (October 2, 2016), the United States Grand Prix (October 21, 2017, cropped to leave out the TV interviewer beside him), the British Grand Prix (July 6, 2018), the IndyCar race at Long Beach (September 26, 2021) and the Detroit Grand Prix (June 2, 2024). No photo of Ian Roberts or the marshal is shown.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain (1886 version) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain); Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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