He even joked from the Manama military hospital room where he spent last night under observation, thanking the Halo, the halo that protected his head from the tremendous impact against the guard rail.
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Those close to him say he wants to try racing this weekend, again in Bahrain for the penultimate GP of the season on a slightly modified track. Romain Grosjean, the survivor, got away with it with burns to the hands.
The images of the flames evoked tragic memories of an F1 that seemed forgotten. The fatal crashes of Piers Courage, Roger Williamson, the stake that changes Lauda’s life. Twenty-eight seconds have passed from the moment of the accident to when the Frenchman came out of hell with his legs. A bit battered, but alive, very shaken as the first to arrive on the spot told us, the emergency medical coordinator on the track for the FIA, Ian Roberts, and the driver of the medical car Alan der Merwe.
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It was a miracle, of human preparation, technology, and even of fate because the dynamics of the accident were nightmarish. First lap, outside of turn 4, Grosjean he travels at 221 km / h when he makes a mistake and touches with Daniil Kvat losing control. The nightmare scenario for a driver is triggered: the car hits the protective barrier almost perpendicular, to make matters worse the angle of the guardrail which had to be positioned in a different way. Answers that will be given by the Federation investigation, inevitable.
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The safety cell
The force of the impact is measured in 53 G, the Haas it splits in two: the rear part that contains the gearbox and engine releases, leaving the driver inside the safety cell. A carbon shell reinforced with layers of Kevlar (a material used in bulletproof vests). The structure held and confirmed the rigidity of the crash test adopted in Formula 1.
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L’Hello
But what saved Grosjean above all was the Halo, the circular bar around the head, without the collision with the barrier it would have been fatal. Francois Cevert lost his life in a similar accident in Watkins Glen in 1973.
The Halo was introduced in 2018 at the behest of the FIA, at the push of Jean Todt and Charlie Whiting, many pilots were against it, including Grosjean himself who, like others, made fun of calling it the flip-flop. It has already saved many lives, and now no one dreams of questioning it. The Halo weighs about 9 kg, made of titanium and hooked to the car frame with three attachment points. It was developed after the terrible accident of the 2014 Japanese GP, when Jules Bianchi hit a tractor at high speed: due to the consequences of the tremendous impact, the French Marussia driver died months later. The Halo was designed to withstand enormous loads, the British say it can withstand the weight of a London double-decker bus.
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The Hans collar
Luck of Romain Grosjean was to always remain conscious and to be able to free oneself from the seat belts in the middle of the flames, triggered by either the lost petrol or the explosion of the batteries. also thanks to the Hans collar, mandatory in F1 since 2003: it attaches to the helmet and allows the forces caused by violent deceleration to be reduced by up to 80%.
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The Grosjean incident
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Extraction tests
But there is another key factor: the training on the emergency procedures. Each driver must demonstrate that he knows how to get out of the car in 5 ”, with the introduction of the Halo the leap out is more complicated. For this reason, the FIA in recent years has intensified the extraction tests: in addition to being carried out by the teams in their factories, they are repeated every Thursday on the track before the race weekend in front of the Federation doctors and those of the teams.
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The suits with resistance to 850 C
His visor was completely darkened by smoke, Dr. Ian Roberts said after rescuing Grosjean. Fire seemed like a forgotten element in F1, thankfully not by those involved in safety. In this field, too, enormous progress has been made: the suits worn by the pilots have very strict parameters, and are almost all produced in Italy (Sparco, Alpinestars). They must be able to withstand at least twelve seconds at very high temperatures, up to 850 C. Plus there is another layer of the same material under the suit for further protection of the body.
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The biometric gloves
Then there are the biometric gloves, introduced in 2019: they have a sensor at the height of the middle finger that transmits the pilot’s parameters (heart rate, temperature, oxygenation), so that rescuers arrive on site already informed about the conditions. Gloves can get damaged but the sensor is built to continue transmitting data even in the event of an accident.
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The readiness of the FIA rescuers
During the exercises we try to predict all situations: multiple accidents, fires, collisions. There is a lot of preparation but then it is clear that when it happens it never exactly as you thought it would be: in Romain’s case, the scene was very complex: a part of the machine beyond the barriers, first of all we tried to understand what was happening then to intervene explained Alan der Merwe, former GT driver at the wheel of the medical car in F1 since 2009. But then there is also the human instinct – adds Dr. Ian Roberts– you see a person in the fire and you try to break through the flames to save him. Do what you can: we saw the opportunity to enter, we jumped in and helped him jump out.
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November 30, 2020 (change November 30, 2020 | 11:00)
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