I watched this race live. And I thought I saw someone die, live, for the first time in my life. The amount of time, from the crash to him getting out felt like forever. It was traumatizing, and I still can't forget it. Him getting out, seemingly fine, was unbelievable to watch.
SAME... I was so scared... it was really early in the morning for me and I was excited to watch the race and it started with that. It was so scary. I was crying the whole time thinking I saw Grosjean die ;-;
Hearing Charles Leclerc's reaction always breaks my heart. He's the one saying it's a big one and asking if he's alright constantly. Charles was personally close to the two drivers that had died from race crashes most recently, Jules Bianchi and Anthoine Hubert. Anthoine was a friend of his racing in F2 who had died during a race the season before, while Jules was Charles' godfather and his crash is what ultimately caused the mandatory addition of the Halo on every car. The Halo is one of the major things that actually saved Grosjean's life. You can hear how scared Charles was while waiting for news.
May I add the Day after Antoine Died on the Track at Spa Charles actually Won his first ever F1 Race on the same Track one of his best Friends died not even 24h later thats unworldly mental tuffness R.I.P to all the Legends we lost
@@ardakaraoglanyan6319Bianchi’s crash was freaky. It was during a yellow flag. There was a wrecker off the track and somehow Bianchi lost control and hit it.
Keep in mind, the whole process from crash to rescue was roughly 30 seconds. But as a viewer on television it felt like eternity, because they first showed what happend after the broardcasting crew got the confirmation from FIA/Formula 1/racedirector (I don't know who is resposible) that Grosjean was fine. That does not mean the viewer or the commentator has any idea, so it took 5-10 minutes for everybody to get released from the tension. Live feed showed only a car leaving the track and for a split second a light flashing in the background. For me this happend in slow-mo and I knew exactly what would follow. After a couple minutes I was convinced i saw a driver die, because why wouldn't they show a replay; there is only one reason. And finally after torturous minutes they showed Grosjean in the medical-car and I could not believe that he was alive. There where two main reasons for Grosjeans survival. 1. Grosjean was stuck in the fire for 28 seconds. Just before the season started there where changes in regulation to bodywear which increased the lifespan/durability of the bodywear from 20 to 30 seconds of heatproof. 2. For the season in 2018 the halo (the bar around the cockpit) was introduced, against the protest of many drivers including, ironically, Grosjean who lead the driver association. Without the halo Grosjean would have probably gotten beheaded by the guardrail.
@@azzifyy5988 Yes, I've seen it live and there was a considerable time periode between crash and confirmation. It should not matter, because worldfeed is the same for everyone, but I'm from germany and maybe information didn't get through as fast as in english. After confirmation they showed the crash excessivly to the point that the other drivers thought it to be disrespectful.
They only introduced the gloves that were higher flame rated that very year and even then his hands were horribly burnt from touching the barrier to climb out, just a year before and he may not have had the strength to get out of that car.
@@colonellemon i think his hands were mainly burnt from touching the burning hot halo, but the halo saved his life, if it wasn't there his head would have been smashed against the barrier and possible gruesomely cut open.
@@footyball66 his burns were mostly on the uper side of his right Hand, he showed his Hands some month ago on Instagram. These burns came direkt from the flames, the only Burn he take from the Guardrail was on his Foot were he lost his shoe
It may "only" only have been 30 secs in real time, but it felt like an eternity. And I doubt anyone watching at home or on the track thought they would ever se Romain again. One of the craziest things I´ve ever seen.
And not to mention 30 sec in a fire is a long time. Most people cant hold their hand over a fire for more than a couple sec let alone be in it for 30 sec.
For those at home, depending on the broadcaster it was 10-15 minutes before they got confirmation from the FIA that he was safe and were allowed to show footage beyond the collision. It didn't just feel like a lot longer than 30 seconds, even his family weren't informed that he had escaped for about 3 minutes so as far as most viewers were concerned the dramatization of this event was shorter than the real thing
@@timenchanter1983 It was actually less than 3 minutes from the crash to the commentator announcing that he was able to get out of the car and was ok. So the dramatisation is still at least 2x longer than the real thing.
@@cecilialeitet2794 I know for us watching it afterwards it actually did feel much longer then 30 seconds for us too. Thank you for checking out the channel as well.
Remember watching the Senna crash, the Kubiza crash and the Bianchi crash. When I saw that fireball, I was convinced I'd just watched someone else die in F1. It's amazing that he walked away with relatively minor injuries.
@@nervanderi Indeed, an absolutely grim weekend for the sport. Ratzenberger crash was probably even worse than Sennas. Hit the wall at 195mph! Suffered 500g deceleration. Absolutely brutal.
@@nervanderi Roland's is stuck in my memory more than Senna's to be honest and he almost always is forgotten, but I remember watching it live and just knowing instantly he had lost his life by how his head was....an absolute tragedy. I think that is why this was so big because I do not remember fire really since Berger so it seemed so unusual!
There is another clip of this, where he tells what he thought at the moment. He accepted his faith at some point, "this is the way i died" and then remembered his family, flashes of his kids and wife.. and then got out. His shoe was stuck, and he could not get out from the top like you should, so he had to really wrestle the first inches to get himself free. Then it was "just" a matter of climbing out. His hand was burned when he gripped the halo device, and ankle was protected only by a sock so he got some burns there too.
@@RealFansSports The tough thing is that the racing suits only protect you from fire for a certain amount of time. At some point these too will catch fire. According to the FIA, the racing suits are designed for 2 minutes. He was in the burning wreckage for more than two minutes. He had been really lucky.
That half minute with Romain in the flames felt way longer watching it live. My goodness what a primal scream I let out in pure joy and relief when I saw his helmet and hands starting to climb over that barrier.
So many things went right for this. The Doctor, Dr Ian Roberts (seen at 10:34 ish) was the in the medical car that was behind all the cars, so he was on scene almost instantly, and you can see how fearless he was running towards the fire, trying again and again to get in to pull Grosjean out. The Halo on the cockpit... I mean you see the barrier, he went through it, so it doesn't take much imagination to know what would have happened if the halo wasn't there to force the barrier over his head. Sure it's overdramatized, slowed down, but honestly the slowmo of Grosjean jumping out of that cockpit with a 20 ft flame behind him is one of the most amazing moments of film of a human. I love it.
It shows as well how F1 and FIA are ready to deal with such a situation. The Medical Car turning the first lap with the field is a standard practice since 1978, when the late Dr Sid Watkins demanded this as a condition to remain on the job after the italian police denied him access to Ronnie Peterson in Monza (he died that day). And also everything that goes with it... As said here, a decade ago Grosjean would die.
Of course it's dramatized - but this gives me the same FEELING as when I watched it LIVE. They did cut to the studio where Marcus Ericsson was a guest and he was very concerned, he and Grosjean had many battles in F1 - they are both in Indy-Car now. Great reaction guys, thanks from Sweden.
I was in the kitchen cooking and watching the race and when that happened I just stopped and forgot I was cooking because it took too long to know if he was fine or not.
Gosjean's wreck is currently on display for the first time ever at the F1 exhibition in Vienna! Years of spectacular engineering designed the chassis the drivers sit in today, and Gosjean's survival came down to its indestructable design paired with the fire proof clothes including a helmet that can withstand temperatures of up to 790°C. The safety gear these guys are equiped with is nothing short of brilliant. Apparently, he was was going at 160mph when he hit the barrier, smashing into it with 67 G of force.
Although he got out within about 30 seconds rather than the extended time the drama makes you believe. Grosjean himself said that his wife and children thought he was dead for nearly 3 minutes. There are two things which probably helped him get out at all though, and one of them was something Grosjean had actually been quite vocal about not liking, along with half the grid. That was the halo. The halo was the metal circle you can see hovering just above the drivers heads in the show, and had been introduced in 2018 so was still relatively new. The halo's purpose was to protect the drivers head from flying objects and during the car flipping, and a lot of drivers didn't like it as it slowed them up getting out the car during an emergency. No one had thought about a car being sideways and the halo providing the only means of escape. That's basically what happen in this crash. The halo created a little amount of space between Grosjean and the barrier, enough for him to wiggle out of, without that, the car would have been pressed against the barrier itself and the chances of him getting out would have been extremely slim. The other thing was the safety car. F1 has the habit of having its safety car follow the field around the first half of the first lap, as this is where alot of incidents occur, cold tyres and brakes plus drivers trying to make up places equals crashes. This also means that the safety car was able to get there quickly and Dr Ian Roberts was able to coordinate the marshals in getting the driver out. One problem which did arise though was that the medical team didn't have fire proof suits, as they had never needed them before, so in getting close to the flames Ian Roberts risked setting himself on fire as well. I still remember watching this on TV and it really was a miracle he got out.
Arguably without the halo he would have already been dead from head trauma or even decapitation - the halo shoved the barrier sections apart just enough for the front of the car to go completely through it, but without the halo the barrier would have impacted his head. So the halo was both a blessing AND a curse that day.
If you want to learn a little more about what Grosjean went through he made a interview on sky sport talking about the crash and it is I think 4-5 minutes long and its a pretty cool extra video to this 😊
Niko Rosberg did a fantastic interview with him on his podcast, where he really went through the crash and dealing with the aftermath. Well worth watching
In my mind the real hero is the marshall. That big dude sprinted across a hot track (a major no no in F&C) with a 20 lb fire bottle. He beat the medical car/team to the scene. He started spraying the cockpit almost immediately. Seconds matter in these situations, that spray added seconds to the time Grosjean had to self extract. In this video you can see how long it takes the medical car driver to get his bottle. It could have been worse had that been the first bottle on scene.
crazy man even now watching it my tears comes out. what a moment! so happy that he is still with us, even i do not know him or anything just happy for him!
This was very dramatized, in fact he got ouf the card in 30 seconds. Still, it's amazing how technology helps save a driver. The silver car that arrives shortly after the crash actually follows the pack during the first lap (this crash was in the first lap) for situations like this
Yep. He did not say that "F**k" before the crash ether. Or at least that sound clip was not from that. Netflix does often additional commentary recordings and splice stuff from different races to get the look they want.
I saw this live and it seemed like an eternity! I already saw some bad things in F1 in my lifetime and this seemed like another one to be honest. Glad it wasn't
@@robja19And those were some AGONIZING minutes. Hell, I didn't even particularly care about Haas as a team but just sitting there and NOT knowing whether he was alive or not was horrible
Since the introduction of the HALO (the safety construction above the head of the driver), there was a lot of debate and discussion about the need of the HALO. Despite the fact that the HALO had already proven its usefulness on several occasions. After Grosjean's crash, all doubts were gone
As other have said, he was out in around 30 seconds. By the time the cars got to the pit lane and the drivers got out, they were all watching replays and the fire crew trying to put out the rest of the fire. And many of the teams had missed him getting out as well. So for a while no one really realized he had gotten out. So everyone was still very concerned for several minutes still. That’s why in this video you still hear drivers asking if he was out or ok and staring at tv monitors waiting to see him.
I saw this live and have rewatched numerous times since. Grosjean had an angel on his shoulder that day. I still do not know how on earth he got out. Great video boys, appreciate the respect you show.
I saw this live and when the network cut away from the fireball he was in, I was sure he wasn’t going to survive such a horrific crash. He said afterwards it took him so long to get out because part of the guard rail was over his head, and one of his boots was trapped in the wreckage, so he thought he was going to die, but he somehow managed to pull his foot out of the high top boot and get out. Truly a miracle.
I remember watching this accident on TV live when it happened. I have watched F1 for nearly a decade now and still yet have never been more scared watching the sport. I genuinely thought I had saw him die in that moment. His escape truly was a miracle.
My wife normally leaves me and my stepson to watch the F1 live on our own, but on this occasion when she heard our reactions she came in and was riveted. The cameras cut away so very little was shown live, but the feed was kept on in the pit lane and I remember the drivers watching once they got out of their cars. Ironically the best equipped people to help Grosjean out of his car would have been another driver as they have full face protection. The fire marshals and medical car personal have fireproof coveralls and suites underneath, but no face protection. The person who pulled him from the car was doctor Ian Roberts from the medical car, you can see him with an open face helmet. Falling and fire are the only 2 fears we are born with, everyone who ran to that burning car did so despite their primal instincts telling them not too, an act of bravery that transcended race, nationality and religion. 28 seconds of humans at their best.
11:37 remember that the guys with the fire extinguisher (on both sides of the barrier) did a great job keeping Grosjean as COOL as possible without blocking his escape route. The guy trying to help Grosjean over the barrier didn't have that luxury. That explains why Grosjean was seemlingly less bothered by the flames around him despite being closer.
I remember seeing this live, and cos they cut the cameras after a few seconds (understandable, they didn't want to mistakenly live broadcast a driver's death to the world) we didn't initially get to see him climb out and run to the safety car, so it was an agonising while waiting to hear if he was okay. It had echoes of Roger Williamson's crash in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix - only the man's second ever F1 race - who sadly and horrifically burned to death trapped under his car whilst one of his closest friends, David Purley, was trying to turn the car over and get him out, but couldn't because of the intense heat. It subsequently turned out that Roger hadn't actually been badly injured in the crash, and was just pinned, but the fire cost him his life. His accident spurred on the development of fuel tanks (and later fuel cells) that are stronger and more flexible to absorb impacts without tearing open (which failed in Grosjean's crash and caused a redevelopment of the fuel system), as well as other safety features taken for granted today such as track marshals wearing the same fire-resistant clothing the drivers do (because they too couldn't get close enough to help because they wore regular clothes) and the impressive training marshals and safety crews go through.
I watched this live, and I remember the scars from the 1994 F1 season as a little kid when I saw Senna died. This brought those feelings again. I was so happy to know he was okay, but at the moment of the accident I was like not again.
Watching this live was surreal. I never thought we would see something like this. Grosjean was very well liked too. I yelled when i saw him climb over the railing, shaking his hands.
I was in front of the tv when Roland passed away. I was in front of the tv when my favorite driver, Ayrton, passed away. I was in front of the tv when Jules crashed and believe me, you cannot immagine the happiness i felt, when Romain jumped off that fireball car.
When I started watching F1 as a kid it was pretty normal to have a driver death in a season. It's incredible that the safety is so good now a driver can walk out of a crash like that. Very close call, he could have easily been trapped and not been able to get out, which would have been a horrible death. I recommend the great documentary: F1 the Killer Years, for a look at f1 crashes and safety over the years. Very well made and terrifying.
I watched this race live and was shocked when it happened. Let me first say that Netflix overdramatized the heck out of it and it takes away from reality. Long story ahead with some information and how I experienced this watching it live. Info about the medical car: At every race a medical car follows the pack (edit: for 1 lap when starting from a standing start) in case of a accident so they can provide first aid, the whole trunk of that medical is basically a mini ambulance, also kitted out with fire extingushers. It was kind of lucky the accident happened so early because the medcar obviously isn't as fast as a F1 car. It happened at the start of the race. It was a messy start in general and there was a bit of a concertina effect, Grosjean was appoaching quickly and swerved right to go around the slower cars in front resulting into him clipping Kvyat's front tyre and speeding into the barrier. The car split in half resulting into a big fire. The F1 cars have had a massive safety overhaul with the so called Halo added in 2018, that's the curved part above the cockpit. It's supposed to withstand a dubbledecker bus and not malfunction, and if it wasn't for this safety device he would've probably went head first into the barrier probably leading to his death. He was stuck for about 28 seconds before being able to get out, the fireproof racing suits helped a lot but he still had severe burns on his hands. This was very tough to watch live. When a big accident happens they won't show replays or footage of the incident until it's known the driver is ok. So people saw a big explosion and didn't see anything else for a couple of minutes until they knew Grosjean was ok. Grosjean did get out and got told to sit down by the medical car personel, but he wanted to walk himself towards the ambulance afterwards to let everyone know he was alive. When they knew he was okay we got the replays almost on loop while there was period of about a hour of red flag to repair the barriers. This was kind of controversial at the time as the drivers still had to compete in a race while being confronted with these replays almost looping for a hour. Hope this made a bit of sense to you guys. If you're ever going to get a subscription to F1TV rewatch the vod of this race, like I said before Netflix overdramatized the heck out of it and I feel like it was much scarier the way the live coverage covered it.
I watched this race live as well and when the crash happened everybody in the living room went quiet. Like you said Netflix overdramatized it, but also don't forget how long it took for F1 to bring the news that Grosjean got out safe. If I'm not mistaken it took at least 10-15 minutes for the commentators to share the good news.
Another crazy thing is that after he crashed, he wanted to walk to the car and not being on a litter to show his family he was okay Respect 👏 Btw loved your reaction
@@RealFansSports th-cam.com/video/k_1Le5ZnHvg/w-d-xo.html This 6min video of the details of the crash after F1's investigation is very interesting as well! "The Race" channel makes very well researched video's. They're really "the go to" channel for any F1 info.
14:50 You need to watch the rest of that, following this is an interview with him and his wife. How many years has this been now and even just watching this makes my heart race. I've watched F1 for about 30 years now and I can't ever remember seeing a crash like this before where the person survives. Watching this live I was Bawling my eyes out, still makes my tear up now.
That was an unsurvivable crash. So the fact that he survived was a miracle. That fact that he survived with only relatively minor injuries was godlike level of miracle.
I remember watching this live with my wife. Floods of tears in the initial realisation that he might not be getting out. Then tears of joy as we saw him climb free. Amazing human being to have that desire to live for his family and himself. He was by his own admission very very lucky
My Dad and I have watched every F1 race on TV for the past fifteen years. This was the most terrifying event I have EVER seen. When it came on, I actually screamed. Dad and i immediately rewound the recording to see what had happened. To this day, I have hardly seen my Dad's face so white. As we watched and listened to the reactions, I was praying that Grosjean would get out. When he did, I think I cheered a little. When he was declared okay after the race, i was relieved. But man, this crash was INSANE. No crash has come close to this one since, and thank heavens for that.
i'm from germany and watched since 1992 all F1 races with my Dad and my Brother... We saw Sennas Crash, Ratzenbergers Crash and Bianchis Crash live on TV and when this happend i instant screamed "fuck please not again!!!" I was like in a shock and was sure that this kind of crash u can not survive... When i saw that he jumps out of the car and was alive it feels unreal. Like some supernatural things happens and an guardian Angel comes to thes scene... Thank's God u was with him and saved his life!
Honestly those 30 to 60 seconds felt like a lot longer as a fan. I had the same nausia i felt as i did with the hubert crash. I thought id just seen another death live
They also were longer. The broadcast waited minutes before showing us Grosjean sitting alive and well in the medical car. I mostly thought of Niki Lauda's crash before that moment and that this one must have the same consequences if not worse.
Every F1 fan knows, there's nothing scarier than when the camera cuts away from the result of a crash for minutes on end. The second they know it's alright they put the camera on the driver to let the audience know. When they don't, you know they have no clue if the driver is making it or not.
I will never forget that crash, watching it live with the whole family, i remember texting my best friend: "i think i just watched a driver die" It was the most surreal feeling. Never saw that, in my 20 years of watching, never saw that happen before.
The driver that said " tell me hes okay please tell me hes okay " was pierre Gasly not only was he a fellow Frenchman he lost one of his best friends anthoine hubert in an F2 crash the year before. You also get a similar reaction from charles leclerc the driver from monaco who was also a close friend of Anthoine hubert.
@@jameswg13 It was Kvyat, It was his front wheel that Romain went over the top of not realising he was there. Either way I think all the drivers were in the same way of thinking tbh. Watching it live on tv with my other half we were both in shock and just stared at the tv waiting for the news he was dead after seeing that at the top of screen. I've never been happier to be so wrong about an outcome.
No, it was Daniil Kvyat, whose front wheel was the one Grosjean clipped to put him into the wall. Obviously, he was incredibly distressed as, logical or not, he felt responsible.
I’m 57 and have followed F1 since before i was a teenager. I was watching this live with my 2 teenage daughters who had their heads buried in their iPads. I screamed so loudly they thought I was having a heart attack and was literally shaking and crying when Roman was able to climb into the medical car. I’ve never seen anything so terrifying in a sport
Yes, this was like three corners in to the race My family doesn’t watch the races like usually so I remember reading about this before watching it but still watching it happen still scared me. In reality, it was only about 30 seconds before he got out, but those were the longest seconds of my life. Honestly, the fact that he survived this is incredible says a lot about the sport safety nowadays.
I've seen this a number of times I even saved the music as my ringtone for the last three years. It always bring me to both tears and amazement, I've been a fan of F1 for decades and seen too many crashes but some you will always remember.
The looks on all the HASS crew faces was just pure agony. I work in the meantal health field and have worked with PTSD AND CPTSD and i just instantly think these people are gonna need help dealing with this. So happy RG8 was relatively okay. Thank God he was able to go gome to his wife and children.
it is a hard experience... F1 lost many along the years, the safety measures were really serious from the late 70's and beyond. Those guys know that despite everything, death rides shotgun with them
@otaviofrn_adv I've never watched F1 before. My very first experience was seeing this crash. I've become very interested in it and have done some research. I can't believe how many drivers have been lost. Grojean wouldn't be here without the halo. Ever since this crash, there hasn't been as much complaining about the halo. You are right, these men know they are staring death in the face at every turn.
Saw this race live. It took awhile. Felt like forever before you knew if he survived, or not. Most motivated man I've ever seen coming over that barrier. Yes right after the race start.
This happened at the very beginning of the race. That's the medical car (the silver Mercedes) was so quick to the accident as it was right behind everyone. I was watching this live with my brother and father and I thought we watched a man die. It's amazing how he survived.
Yeah the "fake" 10 minutes of Netflix as the complainers say is actually how long we had to wait in real life to find out. They didn't want do broadcast his death live if that turned out to be the case.
@@JamesHoffa1his wife says it was almost 5 minutes that she thought he was dead (she says the exact time in dts actually) as she was watching the race at home, and got a chance to talk to him only when he was transported back to the medical centre.. to be fair, i think netflix did a good job recreating the feelings of confusion, hurt and fear we went through watching it live
@@JamesHoffa1 Yeah the same occored with Zhou in Silverstone . I totally get why they take time but that waiting period can be torture when watching live.
I watched this live on my own in my room as it was in lockdown so I normally watch with my partner at his place. I first texted “shit” to my partner then started saying “oh god he’s dead, he’s definitely dead” it felt like forever and then seeing this image of a person walking out the flames was pure insanity. My brain couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. I still get goosebumps, bear in mind I didn’t hear much of the radio calls at all, but I knew other drivers were freaked by it. It’s not something you see on f1 anymore, yes there are big crashes, but the fire aspect is rare. It was a freak accident, because of the way it hit. Also, he had no shoe on one of his feet. So when I saw him step out I was like woah, his gear came off!!!
As a fan, watching the race at the time, even though they didn't play the footage until they knew he was OK, it was so, so horrible. Also, Grosjean seems to be just the nicest man and he has been very brave in the way he talks about this situation. He has an insightful YT channel as well! Top bloke (as we say here over the pond)! 🙌
in modern F1 rules state.....a car should NEVER break in half, and all barriers should never be able to split. amazingly both these happened here and SAVED his life. experts later said if 1 or both hadn't happened he would not be here with us today someone was watching out for him this day I remember watching this live and was just stunned when we saw he walked with aid and only had burns to his hands an 1 foot.
Yes and no, the car isn’t meant to split in half, (which used to be part of the designs in the past when the back half would break off), but still the way the design is, it’s still in the design to break at certain points in extreme accidents with certain newtons of force. The 2 biggest failures here, were what you stated, the barrier, but also the fuel cell. The fuel cell apparently survived the impact, but it was the lines when the car split that caused the issue, they redesigned many things into the linkage to prevent it in future. It’s crazy what you said, those 2 things that aren’t supposed to happen helped save his life and dissipate the energy, without the fire, it would have looked although dramatic, an entirely different event.
When we watched the race with friends at home i could hear people in the building yelling COME ON GET OUT. We were all frozen, screaming, waiting for him to come out. One of the longest 28 seconds in racing history
There is an interview with grosjean about his thoughts and what happened and how the car looked after all of it, I think that would be really interesting as well
I remember watching this live with my family and we all thought he was dead. I'm watching this with you now, for the first time since and I have tears dripping down my face. This is as horrific to watch back now, as it was live. Even though I know he'll get out alive.
The one big scary thing when watching it live was the radiosilence. You see a massive fireball at the back, camera cuts away and you don't hear anything from it for the next 45-60 minutes. Just watching pitlane. Just watching people looking at the screens waiting for replays. Just seeing peoples reactions. Just waiting for news. Everyone watching thought he had passed. And then they showed the replay. The crash seeing it again was big. But seeing the replay was a massive relief. Because since Hubert's fatal crash in F2 in 2019, the broadcast protocol is to not show anything of an incident until it is sure that everyone is ok.
I saw it live on TV.... I watch F1 since the late 90s. Never seen anything like that... In these few moments, I "knew" he was dead, I was shocked and was not able to believe, that he could somehow survive that.... even tody, watching these scenes, I get teary eyes
The whole thing, from crash to Grojean sitting in the medical car took 45 seconds......Netflix dramatised it so much. There was no need for it. When we watched this live, there had been between 5-10minutes after the crash with no footage shown. Not to us at home, not to the teams. Even so he was in the medical car after 45seconds, the F1 direction decided not to show anything, until the Doctors gave their statement, that he was okay. It was dramatic. Cars burning happend alot in the 80s to 2000s , but like this...that was the first time since Lauda 1976. The relief was sooo huge and honest no TV show could
Watching this live broke me... it was almost like time stood still, and when he popped out of that flame, I felt like I had seen superman in real life and all I could feel was relief.
This was the fourth corner on the first lap. The whole situation has been edited together by the Drive to Survive team, but when I was watching that day I was 100% sure I had just seen a man die on the track. The broadcast didn't show any replay or anything for 5 minutes until they were sure Grosjean was okay and going to recover.
Yeah same here, remember it very well, I couldn't work out where the front end of the car was initially, then when I realised it was wedged through the barrier I said to my wife 'oh ****, there's no way he's surviving that'....Amazing!
There's an interview with the driver right after the crash where he tells the sensations of being stuck in the car and inside the fire, it's mindblowing. And his favourite driver was Niki Lauda, he said he even thought about that inside the fire, like: "No, I'm not gonna end like that".
I’ve been watching Formula One since I was six years old, when Nigel Mansell won his only title in 1992. I’ve seen all sorts of crashes in this series, some of them fatal. But this was the scariest crash I’ve ever seen. I was watching this live with my Dad, and I’d never seen a car explode on impact before. And for Romain to escape with “just” third degree burns to his hands, and a broken toe, it’s amazing how far safety has come in motorsport. The HALO undoubtedly saved Romain’s life, because if it wasn’t on the car, he would have gone through the barrier head first. I’ve read that some people say it’s almost identical to the fatal crash for Francois Cevert at Watkins Glen in 1973. But the fatal accidents at Spa, Anthoine Hubert in F2 in 2019, and Dilano van 't Hoff in Formula Regional in 2023, show that more can be done. It’s not just cars. Circuits need to adapt too. It isn’t just the drivers we’re talking about here, but the trackside marshals and the spectators.
I watched this race live. I still get the same feelings now watching it as I did then. Still makes me feel sick watching it and now much respect I have for the drivers. X
I remember watching this live it was insane. I remember first seeing the fireball and being absolutely stunned for words, I'm not sure how long it was exactly but it felt like a good half an hour to an hour before we got the news that he was okay. one of the most tense moments of my life.
The first time when i got this feeling that time just stops is when at the age of 7 i watched live on TV the Senna crash at Imola in 1994. Then it happened again with Michael Schumacher's crash at Silverstone in 1999. Then again in 2004 with Ralf Schumacher's crash at Indianapolis. Then again with Massa at Hungaro Ring in 2009. Pretty evenly spaced out by 5 years crash to crash. You know it's a big one when right after the car has stopped moving you don't see the driver jumping out. We are used to seeing absolutely monumental crashes, with cars and parts flying all over the track, but usually 2-3 seconds after the car has settled down, we see the driver throwing out the steering wheel and jumping out or trying to get out if he landed upside down. If we don't see that happen after the firrst 2-3 seconds, every second beyond that starts to feel basically like a whole minute. With Massa and Ralf's crashes being really eerie where Ralf's helmet just stood motionless with his visor in opened position and Massa's Ferrari red-lining the engine while stopped in the wall.
First time I remember being truly scared for a driver was Kubica's crash at Canada. Was born in 1990 and started watching F1 in 1995 (so I missed Senna and Ratzenberger's deaths). Watching Bianchi and Hubert's crashes really scarred me though. Didn't always watch F2/GP2 but happened to be watching that Spa race (wasn't so long after that Norris had his big crash there in the rain). Also Zhou's crash at Silverstone was terrifying as you saw him skidding upside down and then the camera just wouldn't go back to him for ages.
I tell you, I have watched Formula 1 races for more than 40 years, sadly, I have seen accidents in which the drivers were seriously injured and some died. It's really sad to see a person die. My son and I were watching that race live on Sky Sports f1. Both of us, my son and I, shouted "NO, No, No..." and we couldn't help but cry because we feared the worst. It doesn't matter how good or bad f1 driver you are, the results don't matter either. What matters is the love of F1 and empathy with the drivers. Luckily, Romain Grosjean is not a footballer (you call him "soccer"). Grosjean is a gladiator who was able to get out of that hell, wounded, with burns, but alive. All my sympathies with Grosjean ALWAYS. Formula 1 is no joke and rarely forgives the injured driver. This time there was luck.
I agree with the luck, but I have to add, in great measure, the way F1 handled the safety issues especially starting in the late 1970's. There is a standard for everything, an always evolving one as a matter of fact. There are defined actions, a strict plan to follow for events like this crash. Death still rides with the drivers, but it was much, much worse.
13:06 Grosjean basically said in his interview he'd 100% settled with the fact he was going to die. Like, he was confused he wasn't even feeling pain any more and was almost relaxing into it, he just knew he was going to die. Then you see him in the car just a few seconds after that moment. Suddenly you've got probably 50-60 years more life you'd written off; that's some emotional rollercoaster.
You should watch the interview he did after with his hands still wrapped up in bandages. He talks about how it happened and how he managed to climb out himself.
Live it was horrendous. I was convinced for a few minutes that we'd lost another driver (I'm old enough to remember watching Senna's crash) and watching it again just brings back those memories even though I know he's fine. It felt like forever til we saw him get out of the car and the relief was intense.
There's a really good interview with Grosjean after the accident where he goes through his thought process, initially conceding to the inevitable after he realised he was stuck, then thinking of his family and renewing his efforts to get out....
the other drivers saying "tell me he's ok" that had to be heartbreaking.....they might be competitors but everybody knows everybody for the most part....I can't imagine...
That was his last race in F1, he took this as a message from God saying "quit F1", We were there around the other side of the track, we knew it was bad what with all the smoke then the red flags, they never showed us the replay on the big screens until he got out, it seemed like a lifetime before we knew he was safe, so we were in limbo up until then as well, all I can say is, it was a miracle, the front end went through the barrier and flipped on its side, Grosjean said his helmet was stuck between the barrier and the car, he had to free his helmet, undo his straps and climb out a small gap, I think the only part of him that was burnt was his hands, its still emotional today watching it back, certainly one of these days i'll never forget.
I remember watching the race. It was in Bahrain & it happened on the first lap. The cars are now designed to split in half like that. Romain suffered burns to his hands & one foot. He drove for Haas that's why you see that team a lot.
In that race Grosjean, was wearing a new racing suite for fire, it was a test run, the reason his hands were burned was they were not made of the same material. Totaly amazing every time I see it.
There was a reaction video of Grosjean where he explained that his shoe was stuck between the paddles. At some point he felt at peace, knowing he wasn't going to get out of it alive. And than he thought of his kids and his wife and something came over him. He found the strength to break free and he lost his shoe in the process. You can see that when he steps over the barrier. I watched it live on TV and nobody thought he would've survived that crash, let alone come out of that fireball. I still get emotional when I see this footage
If you can, you should watch the interview of him where he explains his perspective. How he tried to get out, realise his foot was stuck in the wreck, and sat back down accepting that it was his time. He then thought of his wife and kids and decided to give it another try, he dislocated his ankle pulling his foot free (that's why he's missing a shoe when he jumps the barrier). The rescue team couldn't spray the fire too much while he was still alive in there or he would have suffocated, so he put his hands on the burning hot metal barrier and jumped it. That's why his only injuries were a dislocated ankle, burns to his hands, and a burn to his unshoed foot. The man is a true survivor, he got a pheonix rising from the flames tatooed after that one.
I think the scariest thing is when you know from Julien Febreau who's a French commentator and a really close friend to Romain, that his kids were watching the GP and that 2 days before they were talking about how Romain and Marion made the choice to let the kids watch the races. And during the race, while Julien is commenting panic gets him and in his head and he reacts in surprise, his first thought is "I fucked up Marion and the kids heard me, I have to speak calmly so she has time to get them out" and also that he was so shocked to the point where when we could see Romain on camera out of the car Julien didn't announce is right away because he couldn't process. BTW this was shared by Julien Fereau in a 2-hour long ITW on the channel of the youtuber IDREAU.
I was watching this race. Race fans know that they only show the crash if the driver gets out of the car and is conscious and it took ages and ages for the footage to be shown.... It drained all the colour out of my face and I started tearing up.... It looked so bad!! I'm so glad he's racing again....
this was massive to see it live, my understanding of the safety equipment of the drivers is that it can withstand up to 15 or 20 seconds of fire, this was almost 35 seconds, and noticed he's missing the left shoe
Donno if its mention in earlier comments? One reson he could not get out of the car was his shoe was stuck in the car but he manage to slip the foot out of the shoe you can see at 11:36 he missing the shoe on his left foot when he climing over the barrier. So he also got burned on the foot
I watched this race live. And I thought I saw someone die, live, for the first time in my life. The amount of time, from the crash to him getting out felt like forever. It was traumatizing, and I still can't forget it. Him getting out, seemingly fine, was unbelievable to watch.
I also watched it live. It really was horrible to see...
And yes. I recall it being in the beginning of the race.!
SAME... I was so scared... it was really early in the morning for me and I was excited to watch the race and it started with that. It was so scary. I was crying the whole time thinking I saw Grosjean die ;-;
I watched Imola 1994 when Ayrton Senna died, and the whole time I kept trying to convince myself he'd be fine.
But this one looked so much worse.
@@SylviusTheMad omg i'm so sorry you watched that live.
i was shaking so much. it was really hard to watch and i also tough a saw someone died in live.
Hearing Charles Leclerc's reaction always breaks my heart. He's the one saying it's a big one and asking if he's alright constantly. Charles was personally close to the two drivers that had died from race crashes most recently, Jules Bianchi and Anthoine Hubert. Anthoine was a friend of his racing in F2 who had died during a race the season before, while Jules was Charles' godfather and his crash is what ultimately caused the mandatory addition of the Halo on every car. The Halo is one of the major things that actually saved Grosjean's life. You can hear how scared Charles was while waiting for news.
May I add the Day after Antoine Died on the Track at Spa Charles actually Won his first ever F1 Race on the same Track one of his best Friends died not even 24h later thats unworldly mental tuffness R.I.P to all the Legends we lost
When i was watching the race and witness the crash first thing came to my mind was Bianchi... God rest his soul..
@@tabization4938 yeah, Charles really has one of those shitty hands in life
@@tabization4938
I felt so sorry for Lecrec that he won his first race in F1 and with Ferrari in such a sad circumstancies.
@@ardakaraoglanyan6319Bianchi’s crash was freaky. It was during a yellow flag. There was a wrecker off the track and somehow Bianchi lost control and hit it.
Keep in mind, the whole process from crash to rescue was roughly 30 seconds. But as a viewer on television it felt like eternity, because they first showed what happend after the broardcasting crew got the confirmation from FIA/Formula 1/racedirector (I don't know who is resposible) that Grosjean was fine. That does not mean the viewer or the commentator has any idea, so it took 5-10 minutes for everybody to get released from the tension.
Live feed showed only a car leaving the track and for a split second a light flashing in the background. For me this happend in slow-mo and I knew exactly what would follow. After a couple minutes I was convinced i saw a driver die, because why wouldn't they show a replay; there is only one reason. And finally after torturous minutes they showed Grosjean in the medical-car and I could not believe that he was alive.
There where two main reasons for Grosjeans survival.
1. Grosjean was stuck in the fire for 28 seconds. Just before the season started there where changes in regulation to bodywear which increased the lifespan/durability of the bodywear from 20 to 30 seconds of heatproof.
2. For the season in 2018 the halo (the bar around the cockpit) was introduced, against the protest of many drivers including, ironically, Grosjean who lead the driver association. Without the halo Grosjean would have probably gotten beheaded by the guardrail.
If you watched live then you saw it live. It was then replayed again after the confirmation he was ok
Grosjean never "lead" the GPDA he was one of the directors. Chairman at the time was (and is still) Wurz.
@@azzifyy5988 Yes, I've seen it live and there was a considerable time periode between crash and confirmation. It should not matter, because worldfeed is the same for everyone, but I'm from germany and maybe information didn't get through as fast as in english.
After confirmation they showed the crash excessivly to the point that the other drivers thought it to be disrespectful.
@@goodshipkaraboudjan Poor wording from my side. Didn't knew exactly how to put it.
yeah literally all current safety regulations combined saved his life.!
Even 10 years ago he would have been dead. The Halo wasn't introduced until 2018 and that alone saved his life.
They only introduced the gloves that were higher flame rated that very year and even then his hands were horribly burnt from touching the barrier to climb out, just a year before and he may not have had the strength to get out of that car.
And the Halo was obligatory... Following the fatal crash of another Frenchman Jules Bianchi.
@@colonellemon i think his hands were mainly burnt from touching the burning hot halo, but the halo saved his life, if it wasn't there his head would have been smashed against the barrier and possible gruesomely cut open.
He was also one of the drivers against the halo
@@footyball66 his burns were mostly on the uper side of his right Hand, he showed his Hands some month ago on Instagram. These burns came direkt from the flames, the only Burn he take from the Guardrail was on his Foot were he lost his shoe
It may "only" only have been 30 secs in real time, but it felt like an eternity. And I doubt anyone watching at home or on the track thought they would ever se Romain again. One of the craziest things I´ve ever seen.
And not to mention 30 sec in a fire is a long time. Most people cant hold their hand over a fire for more than a couple sec let alone be in it for 30 sec.
For those at home, depending on the broadcaster it was 10-15 minutes before they got confirmation from the FIA that he was safe and were allowed to show footage beyond the collision. It didn't just feel like a lot longer than 30 seconds, even his family weren't informed that he had escaped for about 3 minutes so as far as most viewers were concerned the dramatization of this event was shorter than the real thing
@@timenchanter1983 It was actually less than 3 minutes from the crash to the commentator announcing that he was able to get out of the car and was ok.
So the dramatisation is still at least 2x longer than the real thing.
@@cecilialeitet2794 I know for us watching it afterwards it actually did feel much longer then 30 seconds for us too. Thank you for checking out the channel as well.
@@tonamg53 depended on the cast you saw, different countries have different moderators in different languages
Remember watching the Senna crash, the Kubiza crash and the Bianchi crash. When I saw that fireball, I was convinced I'd just watched someone else die in F1. It's amazing that he walked away with relatively minor injuries.
How many remembers that Senna Weekend that Ratzenberger lost his life and Rubenc Barrichello crashed?
@@nervanderi Indeed, an absolutely grim weekend for the sport. Ratzenberger crash was probably even worse than Sennas. Hit the wall at 195mph! Suffered 500g deceleration. Absolutely brutal.
@@nervanderi Roland's is stuck in my memory more than Senna's to be honest and he almost always is forgotten, but I remember watching it live and just knowing instantly he had lost his life by how his head was....an absolute tragedy. I think that is why this was so big because I do not remember fire really since Berger so it seemed so unusual!
I remember watching them Senna crash with my dad when I was a kid and how quiet everything got in the house when it happened.
But Bianchi crashed wasn't broadcasted.
There is another clip of this, where he tells what he thought at the moment. He accepted his faith at some point, "this is the way i died" and then remembered his family, flashes of his kids and wife.. and then got out. His shoe was stuck, and he could not get out from the top like you should, so he had to really wrestle the first inches to get himself free. Then it was "just" a matter of climbing out. His hand was burned when he gripped the halo device, and ankle was protected only by a sock so he got some burns there too.
Someone just sent us a link to that so we will be watching that soon!
@@RealFansSports The tough thing is that the racing suits only protect you from fire for a certain amount of time. At some point these too will catch fire. According to the FIA, the racing suits are designed for 2 minutes. He was in the burning wreckage for more than two minutes. He had been really lucky.
@@alpaka8437 he was in the wreck for about 30 seconds
That half minute with Romain in the flames felt way longer watching it live. My goodness what a primal scream I let out in pure joy and relief when I saw his helmet and hands starting to climb over that barrier.
So many things went right for this. The Doctor, Dr Ian Roberts (seen at 10:34 ish) was the in the medical car that was behind all the cars, so he was on scene almost instantly, and you can see how fearless he was running towards the fire, trying again and again to get in to pull Grosjean out. The Halo on the cockpit... I mean you see the barrier, he went through it, so it doesn't take much imagination to know what would have happened if the halo wasn't there to force the barrier over his head.
Sure it's overdramatized, slowed down, but honestly the slowmo of Grosjean jumping out of that cockpit with a 20 ft flame behind him is one of the most amazing moments of film of a human. I love it.
It shows as well how F1 and FIA are ready to deal with such a situation.
The Medical Car turning the first lap with the field is a standard practice since 1978, when the late Dr Sid Watkins demanded this as a condition to remain on the job after the italian police denied him access to Ronnie Peterson in Monza (he died that day).
And also everything that goes with it... As said here, a decade ago Grosjean would die.
Of course it's dramatized - but this gives me the same FEELING as when I watched it LIVE. They did cut to the studio where Marcus Ericsson was a guest and he was very concerned, he and Grosjean had many battles in F1 - they are both in Indy-Car now. Great reaction guys, thanks from Sweden.
I was in the kitchen cooking and watching the race and when that happened I just stopped and forgot I was cooking because it took too long to know if he was fine or not.
There was nothing dramatized. I saw it in live tv as well, and from the moment we saw the crash, everybody was absolutely sure, that we lost a driver.
Poor choice of words
Gosjean's wreck is currently on display for the first time ever at the F1 exhibition in Vienna! Years of spectacular engineering designed the chassis the drivers sit in today, and Gosjean's survival came down to its indestructable design paired with the fire proof clothes including a helmet that can withstand temperatures of up to 790°C. The safety gear these guys are equiped with is nothing short of brilliant. Apparently, he was was going at 160mph when he hit the barrier, smashing into it with 67 G of force.
Although he got out within about 30 seconds rather than the extended time the drama makes you believe. Grosjean himself said that his wife and children thought he was dead for nearly 3 minutes. There are two things which probably helped him get out at all though, and one of them was something Grosjean had actually been quite vocal about not liking, along with half the grid. That was the halo. The halo was the metal circle you can see hovering just above the drivers heads in the show, and had been introduced in 2018 so was still relatively new. The halo's purpose was to protect the drivers head from flying objects and during the car flipping, and a lot of drivers didn't like it as it slowed them up getting out the car during an emergency. No one had thought about a car being sideways and the halo providing the only means of escape. That's basically what happen in this crash. The halo created a little amount of space between Grosjean and the barrier, enough for him to wiggle out of, without that, the car would have been pressed against the barrier itself and the chances of him getting out would have been extremely slim.
The other thing was the safety car. F1 has the habit of having its safety car follow the field around the first half of the first lap, as this is where alot of incidents occur, cold tyres and brakes plus drivers trying to make up places equals crashes. This also means that the safety car was able to get there quickly and Dr Ian Roberts was able to coordinate the marshals in getting the driver out. One problem which did arise though was that the medical team didn't have fire proof suits, as they had never needed them before, so in getting close to the flames Ian Roberts risked setting himself on fire as well.
I still remember watching this on TV and it really was a miracle he got out.
Arguably without the halo he would have already been dead from head trauma or even decapitation - the halo shoved the barrier sections apart just enough for the front of the car to go completely through it, but without the halo the barrier would have impacted his head. So the halo was both a blessing AND a curse that day.
If you want to learn a little more about what Grosjean went through he made a interview on sky sport talking about the crash and it is I think 4-5 minutes long and its a pretty cool extra video to this 😊
Ekstra?
@@tokenboybandmemberI assume it's like the guy on the left saying axe instead of ask 😂
Niko Rosberg did a fantastic interview with him on his podcast, where he really went through the crash and dealing with the aftermath.
Well worth watching
11:40 is the safety car driver, he isn't in full fire gear. He is truly the unsung hero...
Also fire fighting marshals on the track that day were volunteers. they were active policemen in the Bahrain police force.
In my mind the real hero is the marshall. That big dude sprinted across a hot track (a major no no in F&C) with a 20 lb fire bottle. He beat the medical car/team to the scene. He started spraying the cockpit almost immediately. Seconds matter in these situations, that spray added seconds to the time Grosjean had to self extract.
In this video you can see how long it takes the medical car driver to get his bottle. It could have been worse had that been the first bottle on scene.
crazy man even now watching it my tears comes out. what a moment! so happy that he is still with us, even i do not know him or anything just happy for him!
This was very dramatized, in fact he got ouf the card in 30 seconds. Still, it's amazing how technology helps save a driver. The silver car that arrives shortly after the crash actually follows the pack during the first lap (this crash was in the first lap) for situations like this
Yep. He did not say that "F**k" before the crash ether. Or at least that sound clip was not from that. Netflix does often additional commentary recordings and splice stuff from different races to get the look they want.
@@juhokaartoaho ahh thats unfortunate. but still a great short doc created by netflix
It's correct he came out in 30 seconds. But when you saw it live, it took like 10 minutes, before you knew what was going on.
I saw this live and it seemed like an eternity! I already saw some bad things in F1 in my lifetime and this seemed like another one to be honest. Glad it wasn't
@@robja19And those were some AGONIZING minutes. Hell, I didn't even particularly care about Haas as a team but just sitting there and NOT knowing whether he was alive or not was horrible
Since the introduction of the HALO (the safety construction above the head of the driver), there was a lot of debate and discussion about the need of the HALO. Despite the fact that the HALO had already proven its usefulness on several occasions. After Grosjean's crash, all doubts were gone
Wow thats crazy! Did they add that after that one driver got hit with the spring?
@@RealFansSports It was after the fatal crash of Jules Bianchi at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, that they introduced the Halo.
If i dont remember wrong Grosjean was one of the driver´s against the introduction of the HALO
@@KarILsson I think most of them were
@@NakedPigeon except for Fernando
As other have said, he was out in around 30 seconds. By the time the cars got to the pit lane and the drivers got out, they were all watching replays and the fire crew trying to put out the rest of the fire. And many of the teams had missed him getting out as well. So for a while no one really realized he had gotten out. So everyone was still very concerned for several minutes still. That’s why in this video you still hear drivers asking if he was out or ok and staring at tv monitors waiting to see him.
I saw this live and have rewatched numerous times since. Grosjean had an angel on his shoulder that day. I still do not know how on earth he got out. Great video boys, appreciate the respect you show.
I saw this live and when the network cut away from the fireball he was in, I was sure he wasn’t going to survive such a horrific crash. He said afterwards it took him so long to get out because part of the guard rail was over his head, and one of his boots was trapped in the wreckage, so he thought he was going to die, but he somehow managed to pull his foot out of the high top boot and get out. Truly a miracle.
I remember watching this accident on TV live when it happened. I have watched F1 for nearly a decade now and still yet have never been more scared watching the sport. I genuinely thought I had saw him die in that moment. His escape truly was a miracle.
I have been an f1 fan since 1997. I remember exactly where I was when this happened. I said to my partner...someone's dead! 😢
My wife normally leaves me and my stepson to watch the F1 live on our own, but on this occasion when she heard our reactions she came in and was riveted. The cameras cut away so very little was shown live, but the feed was kept on in the pit lane and I remember the drivers watching once they got out of their cars. Ironically the best equipped people to help Grosjean out of his car would have been another driver as they have full face protection. The fire marshals and medical car personal have fireproof coveralls and suites underneath, but no face protection. The person who pulled him from the car was doctor Ian Roberts from the medical car, you can see him with an open face helmet. Falling and fire are the only 2 fears we are born with, everyone who ran to that burning car did so despite their primal instincts telling them not too, an act of bravery that transcended race, nationality and religion. 28 seconds of humans at their best.
11:37 remember that the guys with the fire extinguisher (on both sides of the barrier) did a great job keeping Grosjean as COOL as possible without blocking his escape route. The guy trying to help Grosjean over the barrier didn't have that luxury. That explains why Grosjean was seemlingly less bothered by the flames around him despite being closer.
No matter how Manny times I watch this, it's incredible, beacuse you don't think that someone can get out of that alive, but he did.
I remember seeing this live, and cos they cut the cameras after a few seconds (understandable, they didn't want to mistakenly live broadcast a driver's death to the world) we didn't initially get to see him climb out and run to the safety car, so it was an agonising while waiting to hear if he was okay. It had echoes of Roger Williamson's crash in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix - only the man's second ever F1 race - who sadly and horrifically burned to death trapped under his car whilst one of his closest friends, David Purley, was trying to turn the car over and get him out, but couldn't because of the intense heat. It subsequently turned out that Roger hadn't actually been badly injured in the crash, and was just pinned, but the fire cost him his life. His accident spurred on the development of fuel tanks (and later fuel cells) that are stronger and more flexible to absorb impacts without tearing open (which failed in Grosjean's crash and caused a redevelopment of the fuel system), as well as other safety features taken for granted today such as track marshals wearing the same fire-resistant clothing the drivers do (because they too couldn't get close enough to help because they wore regular clothes) and the impressive training marshals and safety crews go through.
They showed the whole thing in GB, but this did change the way crashes were covered going forward.
I was watching live... Possibly the best feeling I've ever had seeing him walk out
I watched this live, and I remember the scars from the 1994 F1 season as a little kid when I saw Senna died. This brought those feelings again. I was so happy to know he was okay, but at the moment of the accident I was like not again.
Watching this live was surreal. I never thought we would see something like this. Grosjean was very well liked too. I yelled when i saw him climb over the railing, shaking his hands.
I was in front of the tv when Roland passed away.
I was in front of the tv when my favorite driver, Ayrton, passed away.
I was in front of the tv when Jules crashed and believe me, you cannot immagine the happiness i felt, when Romain jumped off that fireball car.
When I started watching F1 as a kid it was pretty normal to have a driver death in a season. It's incredible that the safety is so good now a driver can walk out of a crash like that. Very close call, he could have easily been trapped and not been able to get out, which would have been a horrible death. I recommend the great documentary: F1 the Killer Years, for a look at f1 crashes and safety over the years. Very well made and terrifying.
I watched this race live and was shocked when it happened. Let me first say that Netflix overdramatized the heck out of it and it takes away from reality. Long story ahead with some information and how I experienced this watching it live.
Info about the medical car: At every race a medical car follows the pack (edit: for 1 lap when starting from a standing start) in case of a accident so they can provide first aid, the whole trunk of that medical is basically a mini ambulance, also kitted out with fire extingushers. It was kind of lucky the accident happened so early because the medcar obviously isn't as fast as a F1 car.
It happened at the start of the race. It was a messy start in general and there was a bit of a concertina effect, Grosjean was appoaching quickly and swerved right to go around the slower cars in front resulting into him clipping Kvyat's front tyre and speeding into the barrier. The car split in half resulting into a big fire. The F1 cars have had a massive safety overhaul with the so called Halo added in 2018, that's the curved part above the cockpit. It's supposed to withstand a dubbledecker bus and not malfunction, and if it wasn't for this safety device he would've probably went head first into the barrier probably leading to his death. He was stuck for about 28 seconds before being able to get out, the fireproof racing suits helped a lot but he still had severe burns on his hands.
This was very tough to watch live. When a big accident happens they won't show replays or footage of the incident until it's known the driver is ok. So people saw a big explosion and didn't see anything else for a couple of minutes until they knew Grosjean was ok. Grosjean did get out and got told to sit down by the medical car personel, but he wanted to walk himself towards the ambulance afterwards to let everyone know he was alive. When they knew he was okay we got the replays almost on loop while there was period of about a hour of red flag to repair the barriers. This was kind of controversial at the time as the drivers still had to compete in a race while being confronted with these replays almost looping for a hour.
Hope this made a bit of sense to you guys. If you're ever going to get a subscription to F1TV rewatch the vod of this race, like I said before Netflix overdramatized the heck out of it and I feel like it was much scarier the way the live coverage covered it.
I watched this race live as well and when the crash happened everybody in the living room went quiet. Like you said Netflix overdramatized it, but also don't forget how long it took for F1 to bring the news that Grosjean got out safe. If I'm not mistaken it took at least 10-15 minutes for the commentators to share the good news.
Another crazy thing is that after he crashed, he wanted to walk to the car and not being on a litter to show his family he was okay
Respect 👏
Btw loved your reaction
They also Grosjean's interview after this crash if you wanna know exactly what he was going through his head during those seconds
We will have to find that! Do you have a link??
@@RealFansSports watch the drive to survive episode of grosjean crash. Should be there.
@@RealFansSports th-cam.com/video/QDT-tMtdfSo/w-d-xo.html
@@RealFansSports th-cam.com/video/k_1Le5ZnHvg/w-d-xo.html
This 6min video of the details of the crash after F1's investigation is very interesting as well! "The Race" channel makes very well researched video's. They're really "the go to" channel for any F1 info.
Oh you need to check his interview - search for "Romain Grosjean reveals how he escaped horrific fireball crash" @@RealFansSports
14:50 You need to watch the rest of that, following this is an interview with him and his wife.
How many years has this been now and even just watching this makes my heart race.
I've watched F1 for about 30 years now and I can't ever remember seeing a crash like this before where the person survives. Watching this live I was Bawling my eyes out, still makes my tear up now.
That was an unsurvivable crash. So the fact that he survived was a miracle. That fact that he survived with only relatively minor injuries was godlike level of miracle.
I remember watching this live with my wife. Floods of tears in the initial realisation that he might not be getting out. Then tears of joy as we saw him climb free. Amazing human being to have that desire to live for his family and himself. He was by his own admission very very lucky
My Dad and I have watched every F1 race on TV for the past fifteen years. This was the most terrifying event I have EVER seen. When it came on, I actually screamed. Dad and i immediately rewound the recording to see what had happened. To this day, I have hardly seen my Dad's face so white. As we watched and listened to the reactions, I was praying that Grosjean would get out. When he did, I think I cheered a little. When he was declared okay after the race, i was relieved. But man, this crash was INSANE. No crash has come close to this one since, and thank heavens for that.
i'm from germany and watched since 1992 all F1 races with my Dad and my Brother... We saw Sennas Crash, Ratzenbergers Crash and Bianchis Crash live on TV and when this happend i instant screamed "fuck please not again!!!" I was like in a shock and was sure that this kind of crash u can not survive... When i saw that he jumps out of the car and was alive it feels unreal. Like some supernatural things happens and an guardian Angel comes to thes scene... Thank's God u was with him and saved his life!
Honestly those 30 to 60 seconds felt like a lot longer as a fan. I had the same nausia i felt as i did with the hubert crash. I thought id just seen another death live
They also were longer. The broadcast waited minutes before showing us Grosjean sitting alive and well in the medical car.
I mostly thought of Niki Lauda's crash before that moment and that this one must have the same consequences if not worse.
Every F1 fan knows, there's nothing scarier than when the camera cuts away from the result of a crash for minutes on end.
The second they know it's alright they put the camera on the driver to let the audience know. When they don't, you know they have no clue if the driver is making it or not.
I will never forget that crash, watching it live with the whole family, i remember texting my best friend: "i think i just watched a driver die"
It was the most surreal feeling.
Never saw that, in my 20 years of watching, never saw that happen before.
I'm always in tears watching this. Die hard F1 fan and this gets me till this day
The driver that said " tell me hes okay please tell me hes okay " was pierre Gasly not only was he a fellow Frenchman he lost one of his best friends anthoine hubert in an F2 crash the year before.
You also get a similar reaction from charles leclerc the driver from monaco who was also a close friend of Anthoine hubert.
It was Dani Kvyat in Alpha Tauri.
@@dmitriym1153 could have sworn the audio was from pierre
@@jameswg13 It was Kvyat, It was his front wheel that Romain went over the top of not realising he was there. Either way I think all the drivers were in the same way of thinking tbh. Watching it live on tv with my other half we were both in shock and just stared at the tv waiting for the news he was dead after seeing that at the top of screen. I've never been happier to be so wrong about an outcome.
@@xlxpugxlx wait you are right I'm misremembering
No, it was Daniil Kvyat, whose front wheel was the one Grosjean clipped to put him into the wall. Obviously, he was incredibly distressed as, logical or not, he felt responsible.
I’m 57 and have followed F1 since before i was a teenager. I was watching this live with my 2 teenage daughters who had their heads buried in their iPads. I screamed so loudly they thought I was having a heart attack and was literally shaking and crying when Roman was able to climb into the medical car. I’ve never seen anything so terrifying in a sport
Get their heads out the ipads
Yes, this was like three corners in to the race
My family doesn’t watch the races like usually so I remember reading about this before watching it but still watching it happen still scared me. In reality, it was only about 30 seconds before he got out, but those were the longest seconds of my life.
Honestly, the fact that he survived this is incredible says a lot about the sport safety nowadays.
I've seen this a number of times I even saved the music as my ringtone for the last three years. It always bring me to both tears and amazement, I've been a fan of F1 for decades and seen too many crashes but some you will always remember.
The looks on all the HASS crew faces was just pure agony. I work in the meantal health field and have worked with PTSD AND CPTSD and i just instantly think these people are gonna need help dealing with this. So happy RG8 was relatively okay. Thank God he was able to go gome to his wife and children.
it is a hard experience... F1 lost many along the years, the safety measures were really serious from the late 70's and beyond.
Those guys know that despite everything, death rides shotgun with them
@otaviofrn_adv I've never watched F1 before. My very first experience was seeing this crash. I've become very interested in it and have done some research. I can't believe how many drivers have been lost. Grojean wouldn't be here without the halo. Ever since this crash, there hasn't been as much complaining about the halo. You are right, these men know they are staring death in the face at every turn.
Great reaction 🤘 i’ve watched that live .. greetings from Austria 🇦🇹
Saw this race live. It took awhile. Felt like forever before you knew if he survived, or not. Most motivated man I've ever seen coming over that barrier. Yes right after the race start.
This happened at the very beginning of the race. That's the medical car (the silver Mercedes) was so quick to the accident as it was right behind everyone. I was watching this live with my brother and father and I thought we watched a man die. It's amazing how he survived.
for all people watching that don't follow F1: the medical car turns the first lap with the field every race since Germany in 1978.
3:18 Imagine watching this live my stomach sank... had to wait for few minutes before getting the news that he is fine.
Honestly I had the same feeling I had with the hubert crash
Yeah the "fake" 10 minutes of Netflix as the complainers say is actually how long we had to wait in real life to find out. They didn't want do broadcast his death live if that turned out to be the case.
@@JamesHoffa1his wife says it was almost 5 minutes that she thought he was dead (she says the exact time in dts actually) as she was watching the race at home, and got a chance to talk to him only when he was transported back to the medical centre.. to be fair, i think netflix did a good job recreating the feelings of confusion, hurt and fear we went through watching it live
@@jameswg13 That must have been rough man.
@@JamesHoffa1 Yeah the same occored with Zhou in Silverstone . I totally get why they take time but that waiting period can be torture when watching live.
I watched this live on my own in my room as it was in lockdown so I normally watch with my partner at his place. I first texted “shit” to my partner then started saying “oh god he’s dead, he’s definitely dead” it felt like forever and then seeing this image of a person walking out the flames was pure insanity. My brain couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. I still get goosebumps, bear in mind I didn’t hear much of the radio calls at all, but I knew other drivers were freaked by it. It’s not something you see on f1 anymore, yes there are big crashes, but the fire aspect is rare. It was a freak accident, because of the way it hit.
Also, he had no shoe on one of his feet. So when I saw him step out I was like woah, his gear came off!!!
As a fan, watching the race at the time, even though they didn't play the footage until they knew he was OK, it was so, so horrible. Also, Grosjean seems to be just the nicest man and he has been very brave in the way he talks about this situation. He has an insightful YT channel as well! Top bloke (as we say here over the pond)! 🙌
in modern F1 rules state.....a car should NEVER break in half, and all barriers should never be able to split.
amazingly both these happened here and SAVED his life. experts later said if 1 or both hadn't happened he would not be here with us today
someone was watching out for him this day I remember watching this live and was just stunned when we saw he walked with aid and only had burns to his hands an 1 foot.
Yes and no, the car isn’t meant to split in half, (which used to be part of the designs in the past when the back half would break off), but still the way the design is, it’s still in the design to break at certain points in extreme accidents with certain newtons of force. The 2 biggest failures here, were what you stated, the barrier, but also the fuel cell. The fuel cell apparently survived the impact, but it was the lines when the car split that caused the issue, they redesigned many things into the linkage to prevent it in future. It’s crazy what you said, those 2 things that aren’t supposed to happen helped save his life and dissipate the energy, without the fire, it would have looked although dramatic, an entirely different event.
Drive to Survive captured it well but, will never forget the feeling of watching it all play out in real time waiting for news.
When we watched the race with friends at home i could hear people in the building yelling COME ON GET OUT. We were all frozen, screaming, waiting for him to come out. One of the longest 28 seconds in racing history
There is an interview with grosjean about his thoughts and what happened and how the car looked after all of it, I think that would be really interesting as well
Watching this race live was hard, coz the 30 seconds felt like ages
I remember watching this live with my family and we all thought he was dead. I'm watching this with you now, for the first time since and I have tears dripping down my face. This is as horrific to watch back now, as it was live. Even though I know he'll get out alive.
The one big scary thing when watching it live was the radiosilence.
You see a massive fireball at the back, camera cuts away and you don't hear anything from it for the next 45-60 minutes. Just watching pitlane. Just watching people looking at the screens waiting for replays. Just seeing peoples reactions. Just waiting for news. Everyone watching thought he had passed.
And then they showed the replay. The crash seeing it again was big. But seeing the replay was a massive relief. Because since Hubert's fatal crash in F2 in 2019, the broadcast protocol is to not show anything of an incident until it is sure that everyone is ok.
I saw it live on TV....
I watch F1 since the late 90s. Never seen anything like that...
In these few moments, I "knew" he was dead, I was shocked and was not able to believe, that he could somehow survive that....
even tody, watching these scenes, I get teary eyes
The whole thing, from crash to Grojean sitting in the medical car took 45 seconds......Netflix dramatised it so much. There was no need for it. When we watched this live, there had been between 5-10minutes after the crash with no footage shown. Not to us at home, not to the teams. Even so he was in the medical car after 45seconds, the F1 direction decided not to show anything, until the Doctors gave their statement, that he was okay. It was dramatic. Cars burning happend alot in the 80s to 2000s , but like this...that was the first time since Lauda 1976. The relief was sooo huge and honest no TV show could
Watching this live it felt like he was trapped forever, his interview he gave after showed it truly was an act of God that he survived
Watching this live broke me... it was almost like time stood still, and when he popped out of that flame, I felt like I had seen superman in real life and all I could feel was relief.
And still races till this day and on occasions flys himself to races ❤❤
He was in the fire for 28 seconds. I get badly choked up every time I see this video.
This was the fourth corner on the first lap. The whole situation has been edited together by the Drive to Survive team, but when I was watching that day I was 100% sure I had just seen a man die on the track. The broadcast didn't show any replay or anything for 5 minutes until they were sure Grosjean was okay and going to recover.
Yeah same here, remember it very well, I couldn't work out where the front end of the car was initially, then when I realised it was wedged through the barrier I said to my wife 'oh ****, there's no way he's surviving that'....Amazing!
There's an interview with the driver right after the crash where he tells the sensations of being stuck in the car and inside the fire, it's mindblowing.
And his favourite driver was Niki Lauda, he said he even thought about that inside the fire, like: "No, I'm not gonna end like that".
I’ve been watching Formula One since I was six years old, when Nigel Mansell won his only title in 1992. I’ve seen all sorts of crashes in this series, some of them fatal. But this was the scariest crash I’ve ever seen. I was watching this live with my Dad, and I’d never seen a car explode on impact before. And for Romain to escape with “just” third degree burns to his hands, and a broken toe, it’s amazing how far safety has come in motorsport. The HALO undoubtedly saved Romain’s life, because if it wasn’t on the car, he would have gone through the barrier head first. I’ve read that some people say it’s almost identical to the fatal crash for Francois Cevert at Watkins Glen in 1973. But the fatal accidents at Spa, Anthoine Hubert in F2 in 2019, and Dilano van 't Hoff in Formula Regional in 2023, show that more can be done. It’s not just cars. Circuits need to adapt too. It isn’t just the drivers we’re talking about here, but the trackside marshals and the spectators.
I watched this race live. I still get the same feelings now watching it as I did then. Still makes me feel sick watching it and now much respect I have for the drivers. X
I remember watching this live it was insane. I remember first seeing the fireball and being absolutely stunned for words, I'm not sure how long it was exactly but it felt like a good half an hour to an hour before we got the news that he was okay. one of the most tense moments of my life.
The first time when i got this feeling that time just stops is when at the age of 7 i watched live on TV the Senna crash at Imola in 1994. Then it happened again with Michael Schumacher's crash at Silverstone in 1999. Then again in 2004 with Ralf Schumacher's crash at Indianapolis. Then again with Massa at Hungaro Ring in 2009. Pretty evenly spaced out by 5 years crash to crash. You know it's a big one when right after the car has stopped moving you don't see the driver jumping out. We are used to seeing absolutely monumental crashes, with cars and parts flying all over the track, but usually 2-3 seconds after the car has settled down, we see the driver throwing out the steering wheel and jumping out or trying to get out if he landed upside down. If we don't see that happen after the firrst 2-3 seconds, every second beyond that starts to feel basically like a whole minute. With Massa and Ralf's crashes being really eerie where Ralf's helmet just stood motionless with his visor in opened position and Massa's Ferrari red-lining the engine while stopped in the wall.
There's also a video where he's interviewed later on and he talks and describes how everything was from his perspective.
First time I remember being truly scared for a driver was Kubica's crash at Canada. Was born in 1990 and started watching F1 in 1995 (so I missed Senna and Ratzenberger's deaths).
Watching Bianchi and Hubert's crashes really scarred me though. Didn't always watch F2/GP2 but happened to be watching that Spa race (wasn't so long after that Norris had his big crash there in the rain). Also Zhou's crash at Silverstone was terrifying as you saw him skidding upside down and then the camera just wouldn't go back to him for ages.
I tell you, I have watched Formula 1 races for more than 40 years, sadly, I have seen accidents in which the drivers were seriously injured and some died. It's really sad to see a person die. My son and I were watching that race live on Sky Sports f1. Both of us, my son and I, shouted "NO, No, No..." and we couldn't help but cry because we feared the worst. It doesn't matter how good or bad f1 driver you are, the results don't matter either. What matters is the love of F1 and empathy with the drivers. Luckily, Romain Grosjean is not a footballer (you call him "soccer"). Grosjean is a gladiator who was able to get out of that hell, wounded, with burns, but alive. All my sympathies with Grosjean ALWAYS. Formula 1 is no joke and rarely forgives the injured driver. This time there was luck.
I agree with the luck, but I have to add, in great measure, the way F1 handled the safety issues especially starting in the late 1970's.
There is a standard for everything, an always evolving one as a matter of fact. There are defined actions, a strict plan to follow for events like this crash.
Death still rides with the drivers, but it was much, much worse.
1:48 There were 110 kg of fuel in the car at the time of the impact, which explains this huge fireball
I had a chance to see what was left of the monocoque at an exhibit in Spain; its just surreal.
13:06 Grosjean basically said in his interview he'd 100% settled with the fact he was going to die. Like, he was confused he wasn't even feeling pain any more and was almost relaxing into it, he just knew he was going to die.
Then you see him in the car just a few seconds after that moment. Suddenly you've got probably 50-60 years more life you'd written off; that's some emotional rollercoaster.
You guys should check out f1 2021 season! Most insane season in f1 history
I swear F1 drivers are just built different
Everytime I watch this even though I know he survives it hits me emotionally and I shed a few tears everytime
You should watch the interview he did after with his hands still wrapped up in bandages. He talks about how it happened and how he managed to climb out himself.
Live it was horrendous. I was convinced for a few minutes that we'd lost another driver (I'm old enough to remember watching Senna's crash) and watching it again just brings back those memories even though I know he's fine. It felt like forever til we saw him get out of the car and the relief was intense.
30 second in that flame after crashing in 160mph is crazy
Absolute insanity
Whoever made that suit of his made it with absolute love put into ot
There's a really good interview with Grosjean after the accident where he goes through his thought process, initially conceding to the inevitable after he realised he was stuck, then thinking of his family and renewing his efforts to get out....
Should check out the Ota crash, incredible he survived that and wasn't blinded. The visor melted to his face.
the other drivers saying "tell me he's ok" that had to be heartbreaking.....they might be competitors but everybody knows everybody for the most part....I can't imagine...
That was his last race in F1, he took this as a message from God saying "quit F1",
We were there around the other side of the track, we knew it was bad what with all the smoke then the red flags, they never showed us the replay on the big screens until he got out, it seemed like a lifetime before we knew he was safe, so we were in limbo up until then as well,
all I can say is, it was a miracle, the front end went through the barrier and flipped on its side, Grosjean said his helmet was stuck between the barrier and the car, he had to free his helmet, undo his straps and climb out a small gap, I think the only part of him that was burnt was his hands, its still emotional today watching it back, certainly one of these days i'll never forget.
Great advertising for how good them fire suits are at keeping someone alive in dire situations
I remember watching the race. It was in Bahrain & it happened on the first lap. The cars are now designed to split in half like that. Romain suffered burns to his hands & one foot. He drove for Haas that's why you see that team a lot.
It did happen in the beginning of the race, and he was out of the car in 30 seconds.
Watching it live felt like a solid minute or two, tho.
In that race Grosjean, was wearing a new racing suite for fire, it was a test run, the reason his hands were burned was they were not made of the same material. Totaly amazing every time I see it.
There was a reaction video of Grosjean where he explained that his shoe was stuck between the paddles. At some point he felt at peace, knowing he wasn't going to get out of it alive. And than he thought of his kids and his wife and something came over him. He found the strength to break free and he lost his shoe in the process. You can see that when he steps over the barrier.
I watched it live on TV and nobody thought he would've survived that crash, let alone come out of that fireball. I still get emotional when I see this footage
If you can, you should watch the interview of him where he explains his perspective. How he tried to get out, realise his foot was stuck in the wreck, and sat back down accepting that it was his time. He then thought of his wife and kids and decided to give it another try, he dislocated his ankle pulling his foot free (that's why he's missing a shoe when he jumps the barrier). The rescue team couldn't spray the fire too much while he was still alive in there or he would have suffocated, so he put his hands on the burning hot metal barrier and jumped it. That's why his only injuries were a dislocated ankle, burns to his hands, and a burn to his unshoed foot.
The man is a true survivor, he got a pheonix rising from the flames tatooed after that one.
I think the scariest thing is when you know from Julien Febreau who's a French commentator and a really close friend to Romain, that his kids were watching the GP and that 2 days before they were talking about how Romain and Marion made the choice to let the kids watch the races. And during the race, while Julien is commenting panic gets him and in his head and he reacts in surprise, his first thought is "I fucked up Marion and the kids heard me, I have to speak calmly so she has time to get them out" and also that he was so shocked to the point where when we could see Romain on camera out of the car Julien didn't announce is right away because he couldn't process.
BTW this was shared by Julien Fereau in a 2-hour long ITW on the channel of the youtuber IDREAU.
I was watching this race. Race fans know that they only show the crash if the driver gets out of the car and is conscious and it took ages and ages for the footage to be shown.... It drained all the colour out of my face and I started tearing up.... It looked so bad!! I'm so glad he's racing again....
this was massive to see it live, my understanding of the safety equipment of the drivers is that it can withstand up to 15 or 20 seconds of fire, this was almost 35 seconds, and noticed he's missing the left shoe
Donno if its mention in earlier comments? One reson he could not get out of the car was his shoe was stuck in the car but he manage to slip the foot out of the shoe you can see at 11:36 he missing the shoe on his left foot when he climing over the barrier. So he also got burned on the foot
I remember watching this live...that 30 seconds or so lasted at least 15 minutes for me.