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In the first lap, Grosjean deviated from the track after the third corner following contact with Daniil Kvyat and his Haas car slammed into the barriers, exploding on impact and breaking in half.
The French pilot miraculously emerged from the flames after a few seconds and was immediately taken care of by the runway side rescue services.
“He’s fine, he had minor burns to his hands and ankles,” Guenther Steiner, Haas team manager, told Sky Sports. “Obviously shaken and going through all the necessary checks after an impact like this. He’s conscious.”
The Haas team added on Twitter: “As a precaution and for further medical evaluation, Romain will be taken to hospital.”
Sky Sports estimated that there were between 18 and 20 seconds between the point of impact and Grosjean emerging from the flames. The mutilated and charred front half of the car, which Grosjean managed to escape on his own, was embedded in the side barriers of the track.
“In 12 years, I have never seen so much fire,” Alan van der Merwe, the driver of the medical car, told Sky Sports. “Then Romain started to get out of the car himself, which is quite astonishing after an incident like this.
“It just shows that all of the systems, the halo, the gates, the seat belt, all were working as they should. Without even one of those things, it could have been a very different outcome.”
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton wrote on Twitter: “I am very grateful to Romain for being safe. Wow … the risk we are taking is no joke, for those of you who forget that we put our lives on the line for this sport and for what we love to do. Thanks to the FIA for the tremendous progress we’ve made to keep Romain away from it safely. “
Grosjean made his Formula 1 debut in 2009 and joined the US Haas team in 2016, although he is set to leave at the end of the current season. The 34-year-old has won 10 podiums during his career.
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