Hamilton praises F1 safety standards after Grosjean's “horrifying” crash

Lewis Hamilton says Romain Grosjean's “horrifying” crash on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix is a timely reminder F1 is still dangerous and praised the sport for the advancements it has made in terms of safety.

The start of the Bahrain Grand Prix was suspended for over an hour after Grosjean speared off into the barriers at Turn 3.

The Frenchman’s car burst into flames immediately on impact and tore his Haas into two pieces.

Grosjean managed to get out of the wreckage but Haas confirmed shortly he had been taken to hospital with minor burns and a suspected rib fracture.

After winning his 11th race of the season, Hamilton said it was a reminder to everyone that the sport is still dangerous in 2020.

“It was such a shocking image to see,” Hamilton said. “The thing is, when we arrive, when I get in the car, I know I’m taking risk and I respect the dangers that are in this sport. I posted about it while we were in that break because it’s horrifying. The cockpit… I don’t know what G’s he pulled, but I’m just so grateful the Halo worked, grateful the barrier didn’t slice his head open or something like that, you know? It could have been so much worse.

“It’s a reminder to us and hopefully to the people that are watching that this is a dangerous sport and that it why we’re out there pushing to the limit and playing with that limit, but you also have to respect it. But it shows an amazing job Formula 1 has done, the FIA has done, over time to be able to walk away from something like that. It will be investigated and they will do a lot of work to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

On the back of finishing second, Verstappen added: “It was scary because we saw red flag… that doesn’t mean it’s immediately a bad thing. I saw a lot of fire and said ‘that’s not a good thing’. Luckily he’s OK, he will recover fastly.”