Grosjean's Miracle Escape: Halo’s Life-Saving Role

Gunther Steiner recalls the harrowing 2020 Bahrain crash, crediting F1 safety measures like the Halo for Grosjean’s miraculous survival.

Steiner reflected on the terror of Romain Grosjean’s accident nearly four years ago.

In November 2020, Grosjean’s Haas struck the barriers at the Bahrain Grand Prix at 220 km/h with a full fuel load, igniting a fire.

After an agonizing wait of several seconds, Grosjean leapt from the wrecked car, escaping with burns to both hands as his only injuries.

“The biggest takeaway is that we were lucky. Someone was watching over us,” recalled the former Haas F1 team principal, with emotion.

“Those were the shortest—and longest—30 seconds of my life. You know that if he doesn’t get out now, he won’t get out at all. I’ve been in racing a long time, and when you see that fireball, you know survival depends on getting out quickly.”

“The only way to survive is to jump out of the car. As you try to regain control of the terror, he jumps. And it’s over; everything’s fine. The most important thing is that he’s alive. You breathe a sigh of relief and think, ‘He’s still here; we’ll handle the rest.'”

“Now, I don’t look back negatively because he made it. Focus on the positives. The safety of these F1 cars—without the Halo, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

“And the people around him who helped. He was lucky, but F1 created its own luck by being strict about safety. After every incident, they introduce new measures to make things safer.”

“Following this accident, changes were made to the car to ensure this couldn’t happen again. There was nothing wrong with the car, but we’d never seen anything like it. We couldn’t simulate it.”

“I hold onto the positives. I give a lot of credit to Jean Todt, the FIA president, who pushed through the Halo system, despite much opposition. People make decisions, and they make these miracles happen.”