FIA have launched investigation into Grosjean crash, confirms Race Director Michael Masi

Analysis into Romain Grosjean’s dramatic crash on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix has already begun, says FIA F1 Race Director Michael Masi.

The Haas driver moved across the track and clipped the AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat, which in turn speared Grosjean into the barrier just after Turn 3.

The car suffered significant damage and split in two before bursting into flames. Fortunately, Grosjean escaped unaided and was swiftly transferred to a local hospital, having suffered burns to his hands and ankles.

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“It certainly was a tough situation,” said Masi. “It’s never something we like to see, a big incident, particularly one involving fire. But I’m glad more than anything that Romain is OK. He’s in hospital under observation and we wish him a very speedy recovery."

Masi explained that the process for understanding exactly what happened in the crash is already underway.

“As part of every incident that occurs, the FIA undertakes a full investigation, so during the race, a lot of our teams started collating all of the data that was available, including video cameras with any angle that was possibly available," he said.

“Our technical teams have already started taking a whole lot of photographs and understanding the car as it was returned back to the team.

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“Then there will be a complete overall analysis done of everything, in very fine detail, to see what we can learn from it. Safety is ever evolving, ever improving. You can learn from everything.”

Meanwhile Haas have revealed Grosjean will stay overnight in hospital for further treatment of his burns, but said X-rays showed he had suffered no fractures in the crash.