Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Sport Grosjean is lucky to be alive.

That horrific crash in yesterdays F1 was sickening.
When I seen the car split into two I thought the worst, but was glad to see him get out of the car. The only injuries he suffered are burns to his hands.
I bet everyone is happy with the halo on the cars now, especially, Grosjean. He even admitted he was against it at first.

See the crash here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ7_En2xEm4

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/55124967

Hopefully they will re-asses that style of FIA approved barrier as well, even with the halo Grosjean was extremely lucky with the barrier splitting open like that.

No mention of the other safety device that undoubtedly also saved his life, the head and neck support device (HANS). Another device that was resisted by many, it took F1 four years of testing and five more years of dithering to make it compulsory in 2003.

What was extremely well proven was the amount of fire safety rules working to a tee, there has been a temptation to relax some rules as additional ones come in place.

Overall while Grosjean is lucky to survive, it was an amazing set of rules and regulations that ensured he had a fighting chance.

Them barriers will definitely be reassessed. Can't see them continuing with them.

They did mention the HANS device a few times during the live race and how it contributed to his survival.



I was not aware of this, and have been watching F1 for a very long time.
What rules did they want to relax?

There has been ongoing discussion about the fire extinguisher systems in the cars, currently it is operated internally by the driver or externally by a marked control.

I believe part of the reason automated systems have not been mandated is that it can affect visibility for both the driver and potential rescuers.

In this instance it looked like Grosjean may not have triggered the fire system and might have waited within the cockpit until such time he could see that people were available to assist - that is conjecture but the timing of Grosjean's movements and Ian Roberts were remarkedly coordinated.

The same goes for systems that have been under proposal for many years to do with triggering foam systems etc in the event of a fuel cell rupture.

I guess using the word "relaxed" was a bit biased and "change" may have been more accurate but loses some intended context.