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Tag: F1 accident
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Horrific F1 accident and miraculous escape puts safety in perspective
Seven-time world Champion Lewis Hamilton took his 5th consecutive victory of the season as Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Alex Albon completed the podium in a race which was overshadowed by the horrific accident and miraculous escape of Haas driver Romain Grosjean. This case of accident was handled by traffic accident lawyers based in Highland area. You can also get their help if you want to deal with legal accident issues. You can get info from moto accident lawyers based in Atlanta area based, if you need help with car accidents. Since accidents are inevitable on the road, it is a smart move to hire personal injury attorneys located in Riverside, CA area who can help legally.
London, 30 Nov 2020: With a 5th consecutive win, Lewis Hamilton won his 11th race of the season ahead of Max Verstappen in P2 and Alex Albon completed the podium for Red Bull’s first double-podium since the 2017 Japanese GP, even as the race finished under the safety car.
The McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth respectively, their 22 points haul shooting McLaren to 3rd place in the Constructor’s Championship overtaking a disappointed Racing Point, as Sergio Perez, running in third was forced to park the car with an MGU-K issue with three laps remaining. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in P6 ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in P7 and teammate Esteban Ocon crossed the line in P9. Valtteri Bottas placed his Mercedes in P8 as his race was compromised by tyre puncture and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the top-10.
Daniil Kvyat finished P11 in his AlphaTauri. Kvyat’s future looks uncertain in F1, as F2 star Yuki Tsunoda is tipped to replace him next year. George Russell dragged his Williams FW43 to P12 ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who was seemingly unhappy about the antics of his Monegasque teammate during the race. Nicholas Latifi finished 14th ahead of both Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was P17 and was the last person to be classified. The injury attorneys from The Galvan Law Firm, PLLC can help with the legalities when it comes to accident cases. Accidents are not always road accidents. You can get help with construction accidents too.
Sergio Perez, who had heartbreak as he retired from a podium position with an engine failure, was philosopohic. “It’s really hard for both myself and the team to take today’s result, but in the grand scheme of things, it almost becomes irrelevant after Romain’s crash at the start. At the end of the day, it’s either one more or one less podium or trophy for me, but the important thing is that Romain is still with us and that he’s ok. I wish him all the best.”
Racing Point scored no points as Lance Stroll too DNF’d after his car was flipped over with contact from Kvyat’s car. The story of the day was Romain Grosjean as his car plunged through the barrier after turn 3, split in half and was engulfed in fire. It was a technological miracle that Grosjean was able to get out of the car and was saved. The day belonged to Dr. Ian Roberts and Medical car driver Alan van der Merwe and all the marshals who responded to the accident. In all the hullabaloo, the tweets, the articles and stories around the world has forgotten the `unsung heroes’, the Marshals, who were the first to reach the spot with their fire extinguishers. INDIAinF1.com is trying to get their names with a special article soon.
The start of the race was hectic. Bottas lined up 2nd on the grid but fell down to P6 as he had a bad start and was overtaken by Verstappen, Perez, Albon and Ricciardo. Meanwhile, behind Grosjean saw free space on the right-hand side of the track and tried make through. In the process he tagged Kvyat and his car plunged into the barrier at 221 kmph, bursting into flames. The session was immediately red flagged and cars returned to the pitlane.
There was a delay of one hour and 25 minutes as the charred Haas car was recovered and the barriers repaired. Meanwhile, video footage of the incident appeared as all the drivers looked visibly shaken by what had happened. Positive news came about that Grosjean was conscious and was being taken to a hospital for a checkup.
The race would be initiated by a standing start. Bottas this time started from P4 as he was in that position before the safety car line 2. The race started on lap 3 as everyone lined up on the grid. Vettel was unimpressed by his teammate Leclerc’s dive-bomb on him in turn 1, which according to the German ruined his race. Meanwhile, a bit ahead Stroll was tagged by Kvyat and sent barrel rolling. The safety car was called out as Stroll emerged from his car unhurt and his car recovered. Bottas, had a suspected puncture and therefore, pitted under the safety car for hard tyres to rejoin in P16.
Racing got underway on lap 9 with Hamilton leading the way, Verstappen and Perez following him. Leclerc was running in P7, by lap 13 he fell down to P10 as he was overtaken by future teammate Sainz, Ricciardo and Gasly. Ricciardo was the first person to pit among the midfield on lap 16, changing from mediums to hards. Ocon, Kvyat and Norris followed suit. Hamilton was the first to pit of the leaders on lap 19, Albon following him in, the same lap. Hamilton bolted another set of mediums, while Verstappen and Perez pitted on the next lap for hard tyres. Meanwhile, Sainz had managed his soft tyres to last till lap 21 and pitted for medium tyres.
The second round of pitstops occurred on lap 34, as Verstappen pitted for another set of hard tyres as he was unable to cut into the 4-sec lead of Hamilton. Albon followed the Dutchman. Hamilton was brought in on lap 35 for hard tyres and subsequently, Perez did the same thing on lap 36.
Behind, Ocon had pitted on lap 34 and undercut Ricciardo when he emerged out of the pits on lap 36, Renault teammates seemingly tripped over each other and lost time. Norris and Sainz pitted for hard tyres on lap 38 and 39 respectively. Gasly, on the other hand, was trying an audacious one-stop after switching to hard tyres on lap 25.
Albon, Norris and Sainz overtook Gasly and slotted into P4, P5 and P6 respectively. Everything unravelled for Perez on lap 54 as his car started producing plumes of smoke from its exhaust. Ultimately the car caught fire and he retired from P3, what could have been his second successive podium. This promoted Albon into the podium position. Meanwhile, Verstappen had pitted for medium tyres on lap 46, to set the fastest lap. Due to the recovery of Perez’s Racing Point, the Safety Car was deployed again.
The race finished under safety-car conditions for a second consecutive year in Bahrain as Hamilton took the victory at the chequered flag and both Red Bull drivers completed the podium. McLaren were the happiest of the midfield teams as they outscored rivals Racing Point who scored zero and Renault who wasted time by having an intra-team battle between Ricciardo and Ocon. It was a day to forget for Bottas as bad luck struck again and he could only manage P8. Same goes for Ferrari as Leclerc managed one point and Vettel finished outside of the points.
Sunday belonged to all the marshals and medical staff of the FIA for bravely handling the situation of Grosjean. It also shows how far the safety of racing and F1 has advanced and that racing is and will always be dangerous. Each and every driver should be respected, for every time they step in a car, they put their life on the line and it is not as easy as it looks.
Mercedes dominated this weekend especially in terms of qualifying and race pace. Returning to a familiar circuit showed that Mercedes W11 is still the fastest car on the grid and Turkish GP qualifying result was down to extenuating circumstances. Red Bull closed the gap in terms of race pace but were ultimately unable to challenge Hamilton at the front. Racing Point had a weekend of `what could have been’ as they were pointless at the Sakhir international circuit. Stroll’s unfortunate incident and Perez’s car’s unreliability has made achieving P3 in the constructor’s championship much more difficult. They showed Red Bull challenging race pace as Perez was able to keep a check on Albon throughout.
McLaren may not have been the fastest midfield car but made most of the opportunities that came their way. They are still behind Racing Point in terms of car performance. Their Anglo-French rivals Renault faltered too, as strategic errors and teammate battles cost them higher-finishing positions. Renault showed good qualifying performance as they were able to beat both McLaren and AlphaTauri. AlphaTauri have shown improved qualifying pace in recent races as once again both their cars made it to Q3. Gasly finished an impressive P6 while Kvyat too finished on the fringes of points as once again clever strategy had enabled them to challenge the upper midfield. Ferrari had a dismal weekend as they were unable to make to Q3 and salvaged one point from the race. All this owed to their inferior power unit for 2020, and as the Sakhir circuit is a power-limited circuit, their weakness was magnified.
Williams showed improved race pace as both drivers finished ahead of Alfa Romeo and Haas drivers. This bodes well for them looking ahead for 2021. Alfa Romeo and Haas too were plagued by the Ferrari engine as horsepower disadvantage to rivals meant they neither could make it to Q2 nor challenge for points on Sunday.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P4: Alex Albon- 23 (Red Bull) P5: Sergio Perez- 11 (Racing Point) P6: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (Renault) P7: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Renault) P8: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P9: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P10: Daniil Kvyat- 26 (AlphaTauri) P11: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Ferrari) P12: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P13: Lance Stroll- 18 (Racing Point) P14: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P15: Carlos Sainz- 55 (McLaren) P16: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P17: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P18: Kevin Magnussen- 20 (Haas) P19: Romain Grosjean- 8 (Haas) P20: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) -
After a dangerous crash and red flag stoppage, Hamilton gets back to take 95th win
Sakhir, 29 Nov 2020: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took his 11th win of 2020 ahead of Red Bulls’ Max Verstappen and Alex Albon in the FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix the 15th of the 17 round World Championship. The race was red-flagged soon after the start due to a major crash involving Haas driver Romain Grosjean. It is Hamilton’s 95th career win.
When the lights went out at the start, Lewis Hamilton made a good start from pole position to take the lead. Front-row starting team-mate Valtteri Bottas got away poorly, however, and that allowed Verstappen to take second place. Sergio Perez who went around the outside of Bottas to take third ahead of Albon.
Further back the field Racing Point’s Lance went wide on the right after to avoid tussling cars ahead, then one of the Alfa Romeos left the track on the left and rercating to the situation in front of him Grosjean moved swiftly across the track. He was unsighted however and hit the AlphaTauri of Daniiil Kvyat. The Haas went straight off track at high speed and through the Armco barrier. The car was torn in two and burst into flame. Miraculously, Grosjean was able to clamber out of the burning wreckage and was helped to safety by the FIA Medical Car crew of Dr Ian Roberts and Medical Car driver Alasn van der Merwe. The red flags were immediately displayed. Grosjean, who was said to have sustained only minor burns to his hands and ankles, was eventually flown to hospital for further checks and later posted video of himself safe in his hospital bed.
After an 80-minute delay to remove and replace the damaged barrier, the race began again but the second start was also incident-packed. Hamilton again got away well ahead of Verstappen and Pérez but behind them there was contact between Stroll and Kvyat, with the result that the Canadian driver’s car was flipped upside down.
Stroll was unhurt but the safety car was deployed and during the caution Bottas pitted due to a puncture caused by debris. The Finn’s misfortune moved Albon to P4 behind Pérez.
When the safety car left the track, Hamilton managed the re-start well to keep Verstappen at bay as Pérez also made sure to keep Alex at arm’s length. Behind them Leclerc tried to pass Ocon for P6 but the Frenchman defended well to fight off the Ferrari.
Hamilton was the first of the leading cars to make a regulation pit stop and the Mercedes driver moved to medium tyres. Albon pitted at the same time and made the same switch. Verstappen made his first stop a lap later and instead moved to hard tyres.
At half distance, Hamilton led Verstappen by 4.8 seconds, while Pérez was 16 seconds further back in P3, 3.7s ahead of Albon. The man on the move during this phase of the race was McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, with the Spaniard making his way past both Renaults to take P6 behind team-mate Lando Norris.
The Red Bulls were the first of the leaders to make final pit stops, with both Verstappen and Albon pitting at the end of lap 35. The Dutch driver’s stop was slow though and he lost ground to Hamilton who made his second stop on the following lap.
The race then settled again, and it looked like the order would stay the same until the chequered flag. With a sizeable gap back to Pérez, Verstappen opted to pit again in the closing stages and after taking on a set of medium tyres the Dutchman grabbed the fastest lap of the race and an extra point with a time of 1:32.014.
Behind him, it looked like Pérez was on his way to a second successive podium finish but with just a few laps to go the Mexican’s engine expired and Albon swept past to claim the second podium of his career. Behind the Thai racer, Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly sixth ahead of Ricciardo, Bottas, Ocon and Leclerc.
2020 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 2:59’47.515
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 57 2:59’48.769 1.254
3 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 57 2:59’55.520 8.005
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 57 2:59’58.852 11.337
5 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 57 2:59’59.302 11.787
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 57 2:59’59.457 11.942
7 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 57 3:00’06.883 19.368
8 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 57 3:00’07.195 19.680
9 Esteban Ocon Renault 57 3:00’10.318 22.803
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56 2:59’48.335 1 Lap
11 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 56 2:59’49.415 1 Lap
12 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 56 2:59’49.926 1 Lap
13 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 56 2:59’52.774 1 Lap
14 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 56 2:59’53.116 1 Lap
15 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 56 2:59’56.693 1 Lap
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 56 2:59’57.689 1 Lap
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 56 3:00’09.772 1 Lap
18 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 53 2:51’46.894 Power Unit
Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 2 1:25’06.986 Accident
Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 0 Accident -
Romain Grosjean jumps out of the huge ball of fire, survives a dangerous crash
Sakhir, 29 Nov 2020: Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean escaped safely from a huge ball of fire, as his Haas car met with a huge crash and hit the barriers and the car caught fire immediately in the very first lap of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship double leg here on Sunday.
The race was red flagged and stopped immediately. The car hit the metal barriers with such force that it split into two pieces and burst into a huge ball of flame. The driver, Grosjean, had a miraculous escape and it was a pleasant surprise to see him jump out and he was guided to safety as marshal used fire extinguishers to douse his racing suit. The Frenchman ejected himself out of the car but was assisted later and taken to the medical centre. Later, Formula 1 tweeted, quoting Guenther Steainer, Haas Team Principal: “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.”
I’ve not seen that much fire and an impact like that. Romain started to get out of the car himself which is pretty amazing after an impact like that. All the systems we’ve developed, the halo, the barriers, the seat belts – everything worked like it should, said Alan van der Merwe, Medical Car Driver. Since it is still the first lap, the medical car was behind and they immediately came to the rescue of driver, who ejected himself out which was a huge tribute to safety measure implemented by FIA in the recent years.
Indian F1 driver and current F1 commentator Karun Chandhok was one of the first to react and he tweeted: “Oh. My. God. Romain (@RGrosjean) may be the luckiest man on the planet today. So, so happy to see him get out of that car. He would not have escaped from that a few years ago. The FIA’s work in the past 5 decades has saved his life.” He said adding a hashtag `Lucky’.
“It was the chassis structure around the fuel tank that failed, leaving the fuel tank exposed. The component lying on the floor at the rear of the chassis is the battery pack, tweeted Gary Anderson, former Jaguar and Jordan F1 Technical Director and F1 Commentator. Karun agreed and added: “I could see the engine mounts off the back of the chassis. Having 100 litres of fuel and batteries exposed like that was explosive… So lucky Romain was conscious.”
FIA president Jean Todt said: So relieved that @RGrosjean is safe. Thanks to Dr Ian Roberts and the @FIA teams for their courageous and efficient intervention. We have always put safety at the top of our priorities and will continue to do so.” His tweet with a photo of Grosjean jumping the barrier received 2500 likes within 20 minutes.
One Ferrari fan posted praising the Halo, which was introduced by FIA as a safety measure: “French journalist @Julien_FEBREAU received a message from Jules Bianchi’s mother that said: “They introduced the Halo following my son’s accident and the Halo saved Romain’s life today. This is great. I’m glad that he’s okay.”
BBC’s Chief F1 writer Andrew Benson said: “Grosjean hits the wall head on at the exit of Turn Three and the car splits in two behind the cockpit. The front of the car appears to have separated the barrier in longitudinally. Looks as if the halo could have been crucial in saving Grosjean, at first evidence.”
Lance Stroll crashes after Re-start
The race was restarted after about 90 minutes and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll had a crash and landed upside down but safely came out of the car and the race continued under yellow flags and safety car. Stroll gave an okay on the radio and walked out to safety.
At the fag-end, Stroll teammate Sergio Perez, in third place saw his Racing Point catch fire and had to pull out leaving both McLarens finish in 4th an 5th to overtake Racing Point for third place in the Constructors’ title and millions more in funds.
FIA Statement
The FIA advises that an incident occurred during the opening lap of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix today, 29/11/2020, involving car #8, Romain Grosjean.
The driver was immediately attended to by emergency and medical crews. The driver self-extricated, and was conscious at all times. He was taken to the medical centre before being transferred to Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Hospital by helicopter where he is undergoing further evaluation.
Updates will be given when further information is available.
