A French race car driver emerged largely unharmed from a fiery wreck on Sunday in Bahrain, according to Formula 1.
On Romain Grosjean’s first lap at the Sakhir Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit in Manama, his vehicle began to spark and veered into a wall before splitting in two and bursting into flames.
Firefighters rushed the vehicle and sprayed it with extinguishers; Grosjean, helmet on, emerged from the flames, wrested himself from the car frame, and walked quickly away from the wreck while shaking his hands in pain.
Formula 1 described his vehicle as “heavy with fuel” and “badly damaged” after the crash. According to a statement from his Formula 1 team posted on Twitter, Grosjean “is doing okay.”
Grosjean suffered minor burns on his hands and ankles, the statement said.
“Obviously he’s shaken,” Guenther Steiner, principal of the Hass Team, said in the tweet. “I want to thank the rescue crews who are very quick. The marshals and FIA people they did a great job, it was scary.”
The driver is currently recovering at a hospital in Manama.
