Hamilton wins in Bahrain as Grosjean survives fireball crash
Sakhir, Bahrain: Lewis Hamilton powered to his record-increasing 95th victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday in a race overshadowed by a horrific crash for Romain Grosjean, from which the Frenchman escaped relatively unscathed.
The newly-crowned seven-time champion came home at controlled pace under a safety car at the finish, followed by Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team-mate Alex Albon, who profited from an engine failure which forced Racing Point’s Sergio Perez into retirement with three laps left.
The race was delayed after Grosjean survived a frightening collision with a barrier on the opening lap. He was taken to hospital with suspected fractured ribs and burns to his hands and feet after his crash which was followed by another accident that saw Racing Point driver Lance Stroll rescued from his overturn car.
Lando Norris came home fourth ahead of his McLaren team-mate Carlos Sainz with Pierre Gasly taking sixth for Alpha Tauri and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo seventh.
Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas finished eighth, having suffered a puncture, ahead of Esteban Ocon in the second Renault and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton’s victory, his 11th of the season, lifted him 131 points clear of Bottas in the championship, which he has won already.
However, his initial reaction was one of relief for Grosjean. “It was such a shocking image to see and it shows the amazing job F1 and the FIA have done for him to walk away from something like that.”
On a warm, calm and near-perfect floodlit evening at the Bahrain International Circuit, where the air temperature sank from 26 degrees and the track from 29 at the start, the drama unfolded with stark violence.
Grosjean’s miraculous escape from his high-speed fireball crash had delayed the action for nearly 90 minutes before Stroll’s upside-down excursion, after contact with Daniil Kvyat’s Alpha Tauri at the re-start ushered in a safety car intervention. The Russian was given a 10-second penalty.
“I’m ok, just hanging upside down,” said Stroll with unintentional understatement, as he confirmed he had escaped injury following Grosjean’s remarkable leap to safety from his blazing Haas on the opening lap.
