Shock in Formula 1 – car rips apart and goes up in flames

Stand: 4:59 p.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes

Dhe race was only a few seconds old, then it was over again. The cars drove back into the pit lane at the Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix.

A serious accident by Romain Grosjean had caused the interruption. After touching Daniil Kwjat, the Frenchman landed in a guardrail after the second corner. His car tore in two and went up in flames.

Shocking images that initially raised the fear of bad things. “I saw the flames and was just hoping Roman was lucky. It scared me, ”said Haas team boss Günther Steiner.

It was a miracle that Grosjean emerged almost unscathed from the sea of ​​flames after 27 seconds. With one shoe and helmet still on, he hobbled across the track. The Haas pilot was helicoptered to hospital for further investigation.

“It is obviously shaken, has small, lighter burns, but it is probably okay and is being checked at the moment,” says Steiner. “I would like to thank the medical crew for being there so quickly. That was terrifying. We were lucky.”

Vettel falls behind at the start

Since the accident site and the broken guardrail had to be inspected and repaired, the continuation of the race was postponed indefinitely.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton successfully defended his pole position at the start against team mate Valtteri Bottas. Sebastian Vettel lost four places and fell back to 15th place.