I Witnessed: Grosjean’s Bahrain crash

Motor racing is dangerous: it says so on your ticket. As a racing driver, I’ve been in some big crashes and seen many others over the years. I was in the race at Le Mans when Allan Simonsen was killed. I was in the GP2 race at Magny Cours when I looked over to my right and saw Ernesto Viso flying through the air and landing on top of the concrete barrier which he then slid along.

I remember being in the paddock when Felipe Massa had the spring from Barrichello’s car hit him in the head in Budapest in 2009. I even had Jarno Trulli drive over the top of my head at the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix.

But unquestionably the most shocking moment I’ve witnessed at a race track was Romain Grosjean’s accident at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020. The race got underway as per normal, but all of a sudden we saw this car veer off the track and a fireball explode way up into the sky. I was sitting with Damon Hill, Simon Lazenby and our Sky F1 producer Tim Glass, watching the pictures in complete shock.