Grosjean suffers minor burns in crash

Romain Grosjean is assisted by medical crew after escaping from his blazing car following a horrific first-lap crash at Formula One’s Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday. His car split in two and burst into flames.

The French driver’s Haas skewed into a barrier on Turn 3, coming out the other side ablaze and in two parts. Track marshals helped him clamber over the barrier to safety as they extinguished the fire. The clearly shaken driver was taken back to the pits by the medical car at the Sakhir Circuit.

In a tweet, Haas said: “Romain has some minor burns on his hands and ankles but otherwise he is ok. He is with the doctors just now.” The team added later that he had been taken to a hospital “as a precaution and for further medical evaluation”.

The race was immediately red-flagged and the rest of the cars filed back to the pit lane. The race result was not known at press time.