THE Bahrain GP has been suspended after a horrendous crash involving Romain Grosjean on the first lap of the race.
Currently the action remains red-flagged but Grosjean has miraculously escaped with just minor burns despite a huge fireball upon impact with the barrier.
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‘HALO MAY HAVE SAVED HIS LIFE’
Former Renault driver Jolyon Palmer has said to the BBC: “You have to say the halo may well have saved his life at this point.
“Then there are just flames, everywhere, in the cockpit where Grosjean is, in his survival cell.
“How he has walked away from it is just quite incredible. It is testament to the strength of Formula 1 cars. Just a crazy accident.”
12 MINUTES UNTIL THE RESTART
The race will resume now the barriers have been fixed.
AND HAAS BOSS GUNTHER STEINER
“Romain is doing okay, I don’t want to make a medical comment but he had light burns on his hands and ankles.
“Obviously he’s shaken… I want to thank the rescue crews who are very quick. The marshals and FIA people they did a great job, it was scary”
WORDS FROM LEWIS HAMILTON
“I’m so grateful Romain is safe. Wow… the risk we take is no joke, for those of you out there that forget that we put our life on the line for this sport and for what we love to do.
“Thankful to the FIA for the massive strides we’ve taken for Romain to walk away from that safely”
MIRACULOUS ESCAPE
A MINIMUM OF A 45 MINUTE DELAY
As they repair the barriers.
Grosjean is shaken up and going to see the doctors for checks.
UPDATE ON GROSJEAN
The Haas team say he has “minor burns on his hands an ankles”.
BREAK IN ACTION
There is going to be a long delay while they repair the barriers.
NO IDEA HOW HE ESCAPED THAT
Incredible that he walked away from that smash.
LENGTHY DELAY
It’s miraculous that Grosjean escaped the crash intact – the halo appears to have taken the full impact into the barrier.
WOW THAT WAS A LUCKY ESCAPE
Grosjean’s Haas has been ripped in two, it exploded on impact and, somehow, he was able to walk away from that.
GROSJEAN IS OK
He is in the medical car already and speaking to the medics.
That was astonishing.
His car literally burst into flames.
RED FLAG
Romain Grosjean has gone into the barriers and his Haas has exploded in flames.
Crikey, that was spectacular.
Big shunt that.
Race has been stopped.
Hamilton had got away cleanly while Bottas sank like a stone.
Awaiting news on Grosjean.
FORMATION LAP
All the cars have got away. No mechanical problems so far.
Should be a decent start. This track usually delivers a good race.
FLY PAST COMPLETE
Sure it looks impressive for sponsors Gulf Air, but somewhat against F1’s drive to be carbon neutral by 2030.
20 MINUTES UNTIL THE RACE
Just set for the anthem and the anti-racism message as we edge closer to the start of the race.
Can anyone stop Lewis Hamilton from converting his pole into an 11th win of the season?
My money is on Max Verstappen as being best placed to do so. The Dutchman is in P3.
TYRE STRATEGIES
Moving onto today’s action – but staying with burning rubber – here are the possible race strategies as we approach lights out in Bahrain.
Our live coverage comes at you right here from 2pm…
TYRED OF THIS
Lewis Hamilton has suggested that F1 reintroduce a tyre war – with Pirelli’s 2021 rubber prototype in the firing line.
The champ wasn’t impressed after samping the C3 tyres in practice, stating that the company had been given ‘two years to develop a better’ effort.
He said: “It’s difficult for us drivers to say [what we think about the tyres].
“We try to be constructive, we try to be supportive in the background and nothing changes.
“And then even when we say something not too positive in the media nothing changes.
“I do miss the tyre war that used to happen in Formula 1. I think with that, it’s great.
“When you don’t have any competition, you’ve got no one to base yourself on.
“Formula 1 needs to do something different in the future and that’s something we need to do.”
ICYMI – BIG STAPP FORWARD
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is “pretty positive” about his chances as he starts in third place for the Bahrain GP.
The Belgian-Dutch driver said: “Just lacking a little bit in qualifying.
“It is quite aggressive on tyres here and it should be quite an interesting race.”
WEATHER REPORT
We’ve had some horrific conditions the last few weeks, including that skating rink in Turkey.
No such worries today – 27c currently in Sakhir, with less than five percent chance of rain.
THE GRID
With the countdown well and truly on to the Bahrain GP, let’s take a look at how the drivers will line-up in a few hours time…
ICYMI
Lewis Hamilton continued his stranglehold on the Formula One season after taking pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
It was Hamilton’s tenth pole of the season and he will now go in search of his 11th win of the campaign – despite having already wrapped up the title.
Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, will line up in second place on the grid as Mercedes made it 11 front-row lockouts in 2020.
The world champion had promised that he would not let up on his quest to keep on winning – and he showed that with a commanding performance for his 98th pole position.
Max Verstappen will line up in third place on the grid with the Dutchman the best of the rest.
His Red Bull teammate, Alex Albon, is in fourth and Sergio Perez will line up in fifth place for today’s race.
THE COUNTDOWN IS ON
Race day in Bahrain and the excitement is building ahead of lights out at 2.10pm GMT.
YOU HAAS TO BE JOKING
It was a day to forget yesterday for Haas, who were the slowest team in qualifying – and it hardly looks like they are looking forward to racing today.
Team principal Guenther Steiner was fairly scathing of their chances on the outer circuit next week after another sub-par performance.
“It’s not that I’m looking forward to next week, to be honest. If you think this is bad, wait for next week.
“We know why we are where we are at the moment, so we just try to make the best out of it.
“You never know what can happen. Obviously we have the slowest car here this weekend and we have to live with it.”
CLEWLESS
Lewis Hamilton’s rivals have no idea how to stop him from setting more Formula One records.
Hamilton, who has already sewn up a joint-record seventh world title, is on course to set a new benchmark for wins in a season.
Hamilton was unstoppable as he took pole for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix and is now poised to win this season’s remaining three races.
If he can do that, it would take his tally to 13 victories in 17 GPs.
That would not only mean he levels Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher’s record for the most wins in a year, but it would give him a win percentage of 76.47 per cent — beating Alberto Ascari’s record from 1952.
No wonder then that his nearest competitors are left feeling that the only way they can stop him winning is by locking him up in a cupboard.
Champ Hamilton, 35, said: “I came today and I was like, let’s just have fun and enjoy it.
“That’s the most important thing, to enjoy what you’re doing.”
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