Bahrain F1 - Grosjean Car Explosion

Video gone

As vicious as a wreck gets; front half speared through the Armco, fuel bladder opened, big fire.
Grosjean sat in fire reportedly 18 seconds before freeing himself and scrambling over the Armco.
Medical car was right there and those 2 guys and a corner worker were spraying Grosjean down & helping him over.
I thought he'd been killed until I saw him pop up.
If it weren't for the halo, he'd surely have been killed.

https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2...s_huge_crash_and_fire_at_race_start.html

Pure luck he wasn't trapped in the burning tub. He is the luckiest man in the world today.

Yeah, that was a scary crash. Besides him surviving the crash the thing that amazed me was how the car went through the barrier instead of glancing off to the side like in most of those kinds of wrecks. The other thing is how the front half of the car, cockit area, did it's job and held together and protected the driver..

It was his lucky day for sure!
In the replay, it looks like the car went under the barrier, you can see at least 2 rails lifting just before the fire blocks everything. My guess would be that after going over top of the other guys tire that sent him towards the fence, the cars nose was probably on the ground upon impact, the front spoiler probably assisted in lifting the railing to go over the top of the car, and the railing posts probably are what split the car in half. Once the fuel tanks were ruptured, the fire was immanent. Gene

Look at how the Armco was opened in the middle; I believe that's where the car's nose pierced through.
Didn't look like the car went airborne, but through the Armco barrier.
The wings are actually pretty fragile, but the survival cell is capable of punching through things like Armco.
Later shots of the halo show impact at its center support and along its upper beam.
There was a lot of photo dissection during the hour the race was red-flagged.
Both front wheels, with suspension, were sheared off: one went back onto the track, the other landed past the barrier.
I'd bet the FIA & GPDA will look into a barrier upgrade: had the Armco trapped him in the car, it would've been horrible with that fire.

My goodness, to STILL have armco barriers anywhere is dangerous and unnecessary. Lucky man he is for sure. Watkins Glen 1973 and 1974. Get rid of that crap.

Haven't seen a car come apart like that since Stan Fox in the '95 Indy 500. Results were significantly improved from back then.

Agreed that I can't believe armco is still used, especially on F1 courses.

Not that it would have mattered here, but do F! cars have any onboard fire suppression?

Seems like weight wise, they could afford it, and I don't see how it could hurt the show, etc much, if incorporated.

With all the video and camera at today's races, watching that driver go medium rare live, would sure be a downer in every way, and likely its only a matter of time.

No onboard fire suppression in F1, nor any open-wheel series that I know.
F1 cars start with 120L of fuel, if I recall correctly, to eliminate in-race refueling, which was occasionally ignited on hot surfaces.
Too much for anything onboard to deal with.
I doubt even quick-disconnects that seal would've worked in an impact that savage; 137 MPH & 53g recorded.
For the 2nd race there next weekend, I hope the barriers are addressed, as they'll use the faster track layout.

From Section 14.1 of the 2020 FIA Formula 1 technical regulations:

All cars must be fitted with a fire extinguishing system which will discharge into the cockpit
and into the engine compartment.
Any extinguishant listed in the Appendix to the Technical and Sporting Regulations is
permitted.
The quantity of extinguishant may vary according to the type of extinguishant used, a list of
quantities may be found in the Appendix to the Technical and Sporting Regulations.
When operated, the fire extinguishing system must discharge 95% of its contents at a
constant pressure in no less than 10 seconds and no more than 30 seconds




It goes on, but yes, F1 cars do have on board fire suppression systems. Given the severity of this crash and the associated damage, I'm sure the system was damaged to the point of not functioning.

Well then, I stand corrected. Never seen it deployed that I can recall, even when they'd have the occasional refueling fires years ago.
In the hybrid era, it's not uncommon to see fires when running, and haven't noticed any onboard extinguishing.
Sometimes the drivers are frantically gesturing to the corner workers for extinguishing.
But I haven't seen a cockpit fire in a long time. Thankfully.

Maybe not, it might have saved the drivers life, as to any suppression at this level of a crash, had to have some ultimate upside. Thanks for the info.

The halo kept him from being decapitated.

Armco is bad junk to line any racetrack with.