Brawn: Fire and split barrier cause for concern in Grosjean crash

Formula 1 boss Ross Brawn says Romain Grosjean’s fiery crash at the start of the Bahrain GP warrants a “deep investigation”.

The Haas driver was incredibly lucky to survive the horrendous impact with the barriers that saw his car’s survival cell pierce the Armco, but also escape the raging inferno that followed.

The dramatic crash evidently highlighted the absolutely vital and protective role of F1’s halo cockpit safety device which was introduced amid much controversy in 2018.

Brawn admitted to being concerned by the barrier being split by the impact and also by the blaze that followed.

“It’s shocking for everyone in F1 to see an accident of that severity,” Branw told Sky F1. “We’re not used to that, fire being involved as well.

“But I think it’s a tribute to the work that the FIA and the teams have done over the years. I think we remember the controversy of the halo when it was introduced. And I have to give credit to Jean Todt, because he insisted that it should come through.

“And I think today, we might be looking at a different situation that we didn’t have the halo. And for me, that’s what pried and managed to keep the barrier apart, when the car went through it.

“But I’m sure we’ll have a deep investigation to understand what we can learn from it. Because seeing a barrier split like that is clearly not what we want to see.”