Press reactions to Romain Grosjean's crash "It looked like a war zone"

Newspapers in the Netherlands have extensively discussed Romain Grosjean's accident. The domestic media is unanimous: Grosjean has been extremely lucky that he only seems to have gotten off with minor injuries. The safety of today's F1 cars has proven itself.

Algemeen Dagblad

The AD concluded that the Haas F1 driver has overlooked his competitor Kvyat. "An apparently light touch from Grosjean resulted in an unprecedented blow. In the rush after the start, he saw a gap. He pulled his steering wheel and dived in. Grosjean had not seen Daniil Kvyat already driving there. He tapped the front of his car, and then his car turned into an uncontrollable missile. It pierced the guardrail, broke in two and caught fire. When the flames were extinguished the havoc was only visible. It looked like a war zone. What the hell was it like? 

The Telegraph

The morning newspaper writes that the halo has ensured that Grosjean can still retell the story of his heavy crash: "The mega-crash of Grosjean just after the start of the Bahrain GP dominated the race day. The Frenchman hit the guardrail after a touch with Daniil Kvyat. The F1 car broke in two and fortunately - and by a miracle - he managed to escape from the fire. The driver of the Haas car seems to have escaped death. The halo saved his life in the process."

Het Parool

Like everyone else, Het Parool had to wait a few minutes until it was clear how things were going with Grosjean. "For a moment it was unclear how the 34-year-old Frenchman was doing, the TV director initially avoided the accident in anticipation of the seriousness of the situation. It soon became apparent that Grosjean had left the burning vehicle independently. When those images were in the pit lane. Teammate Kevin Magnussen clapped. Behind the safety car, the whole field had now come to a stop in the pit lane. With the support of the medical staff, Grosjean, clearly taken aback, was escorted to the ambulance. The halo clearly saved his life because Grosjean shot right through the guardrail."

NRC Handelsblad

The NRC has not seen such a serious crash in a long time as that of Sunday afternoon. "The Frenchman survived on the opening lap what appears to be the most terrifying Formula 1 crash in decades. For seconds he was in a sea of ​​flames, trapped in the wreckage of his car halfway through the guardrail. That Grosjean can retell his accident says everything about the safety of modern Formula 1. The crash also brings back memories of the darkest days in the history of the sport. What happened next was more like a plane crash than a racing accident. Grosjean's Haas car broke down in half, presumably rupturing the full fuel tank. There was a massive explosion."

"Grosjean was trapped in the inferno for at least twenty seconds. The rear part of his car had been left in front of the fence, he himself was in the 'survival cell', the indestructible carbon fibre heart of the F1 car, which in the crash between the elements of the guardrail had lingered. While rescue workers sprayed their extinguishers on the burning cockpit, Grosjean was already starting to free himself from the wreckage," they concluded.

De Volkskrant

According to de Volkskrant, it has become clear that all measures taken by the top class of motorsport have paid off. "If all safety measures in Formula 1 are ever questioned, then since Sunday the class has set the example of silencing critics. Romain Grosjean miraculously survived a crash in Bahrain. His car hit the car after a tap.

The newspaper continues: "The Grosjean crash was the test for almost all safety measures in Formula 1. This way the medical car could get to Grosjean quickly because it continues to drive behind the field at the start of the race to deal with accidents in the often hectic initial phase. Grosjean's car took the hit, exactly as tested through many thousands of crash tests."

This article was written and originally published by Corwin on the Dutch edition of GPblog.com.