Manama: French driver Romain Grosjean is expected to stay in the hospital until Tuesday after his fiery Bahrain Grand Prix crash, his Haas team said. The 34-year-old suffered burns to the back of his hands in Sunday’s shocking accident at Sakhir, with his car splitting in two and bursting into a ball of flame after penetrating a steel barrier.
Haas said in a statement that team principal Guenther Steiner had visited Grosjean at the Bahrain Defence Force hospital on Monday. It added that treatment was going well and “it is anticipated he will be discharged from the care of the hospital on Tuesday”.
There was no word on whether Grosjean would be able to race this weekend when the Bahrain circuit hosts the Sakhir Grand Prix, second of a Middle Eastern triple-header that ends in Abu Dhabi the following weekend.
Miami-born Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi, a grandson of twice world champion and double Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson, is one of the team’s official reserve drivers along with Swiss F2 racer Louis Deletraz.
A heart-stopping moment on Lap 1 in Bahrain
We are all incredibly grateful that @RGrosjean walked away from this incident#BahrainGP 🇧🇭 #F1 pic.twitter.com/6ZztuxOLhw
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 29, 2020
Grosjean is due to leave Haas at the end of the season along with Danish teammate Kevin Magnussen. Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time world champion Michael and the current Formula Two leader, is expected to join the team next season with Russian Nikita Mazepin tipped to be the other driver.
Both drivers are in Bahrain but next weekend will be the Formula Two title decider. “We have always got a plan in place, but at the moment my plan would be, if he (Grosjean) is OK, to get back in for the race in Bahrain next weekend,” Steiner told reporters on Sunday.
“That is his decision, I will not interfere with that one. He needs to make that one up with himself. I follow his guidance there.”
