Bahrain Grand Prix – French Assessment: The Survival Instinct

Romain Grosjean: Withdrawal

If this race will probably not go down in history for its sporting side, the F1 world will undoubtedly remember it for Romain Grosjean’s horrific accident.

Elected driver of the day symbolically, the Haas driver only managed a few hundred meters on the Sakhir track. After swerving to the right on track to overtake, Kvyat’s left front wheel brushed against the right rear of the Haas driver, sending him straight into the trackside barriers.

His single-seater then splits in two and explodes. After 28 seconds and an impact estimated at 53 G, the Franco-Swiss miraculously manages to escape his burning car. With his suit smoking and missing a shoe, he suddenly relieves the entire F1 world and even beyond by jumping over the metal barrier, symbolizing his escape from the inferno.

The Frenchman was quickly taken care of by the medical service and then airlifted to the military hospital.

Pierre Gasly: 6th

Starting 8th, the AlphaTauri driver had a superb race with excellent tire management.

Starting on medium tires, the Frenchman took advantage of the red flag in the first lap to switch to hard tires. At that moment, he was 7th after overtaking Ocon at the start.

After the second start, the Norman carries his set of tires for 24 laps, after climbing back to 5th place and engaging in some fine battles on track, particularly with his friend Charles Leclerc.

His team fitted him with a new set of hard tires on the 26th lap, intended to finish the race. These performed their task well, aided by fine driving, but showed significant signs of wear as the finish approached.

Helped by the yellow flag due to Perez’s retirement, Pierre Gasly secures a superb 6th place, on hard tires with 32 laps on the counter.

« I am really pleased with our work today. We took a risky strategy, it was a gamble, but in the end it paid off. The most important thing today is to see Romain walking after such a horrible accident at the start of the race. »

Esteban Ocon: 9th

7th at the start, the Renault driver quickly loses a position to Pierre Gasly. Unlike the latter, the native of Evreux chooses to keep his medium tires during the red flag.

By securing a position after the 2nd start, Esteban Ocon is 7th and then 6th after Bottas’ stop. He stops at his pit after 18 laps to fit a new set of medium tires.

Exiting the pits in 15th place, he makes an effective comeback up to 6th position before being overtaken by Sainz and then Ricciardo at the team’s request. The team prioritized the Australian’s alternate strategy, who is also in a better position in the championship.

17 laps after his pit stop, his team brings him in to fit hard tires to cover the 22 laps remaining to the finish.

Involuntarily, he finds himself doing the undercut on his teammate (who stopped shortly before) who, with no strategy difference now, finds himself fighting for 10th place.

This was short-lived and the future McLaren driver takes the advantage over the Frenchman, who consequently moves to 11th position.

The Renault driver will then manage to recover 10th place following a pit stop, ultimately benefiting from Perez’s retirement, which means a 9th place finish.

« First of all, the main news is about Romain, and I wish him a speedy recovery. It was such a crazy accident. The team told me he was fine, but seeing the images, I found it hard to believe. It’s a miracle that he’s in good health, and I’m delighted. Our race was secondary to the incident today. We have a lot of things to review about the race, especially the fact that the McLarens were slightly faster than us. We will do everything to improve things in the short time we have before the next race weekend to try to bring back more points. »