Formula One driver Romain Grosjean has delivered a raw account of his accident at the Bahrain Grand Prix admitting he had made peace with the belief that he was going to die.
The 34-year-old Frenchman miraculously escaped with minor burns after his Haas car was sliced in half by a safety barrier and burst into flames during last Monday's (NZ time) race.
Speaking to Sky Sports UK in his own words, Grosjean described his ordeal and incredible escape.
"For me it wasn't quite 28 seconds, it felt more like a minute 30," he says.
"It stops, I open my eyes, I undo the seatbelt, and I want to jump out. I hit something on top of my helmet, so I sit back down and thought I must be upside down up against the barrier, so I'll wait until they come and help me.
"I looked to my right, looked to my left, and it was all orange. That's strange, I thought.
"A few things [came into my head]. Is it sunset? No. Is it the light from the circuit? No. Then I realised it was fire. So I knew I didn't have time until they come.
"This time I tried to go up, a bit more to the right. Doesn't work. A bit more to the left. Doesn't work. So I sit back down. Then there's a bit of swearing going on. And I said, no, I can't finish like this.
"I thought about Niki Lauda - the driver I love the most in the history of Formula One. I said, 'I can't finish like Niki, I can't finish like this. It cannot be my last race'.
"So I tried again, I'm stuck. And then comes the part which is the most scary one. I sit back down, all my muscle relaxes, and I was almost at peace with myself, thinking, I'm dead. I will die.
"And then I thought, which part is going to burn first? Is it the foot? Is it the hands? Is it going to be painful? A very, very strange feeling. Sometimes we are close to death, we are a bit scared. This time death for me was here [Grosjean gesticulates to right in front of his face]. I named it Benoit, don't ask me why. I just had to put a name on it.
"And then, I don't know if that moment allowed me to recover a bit, try to think of another solution, but I thought about my kids [Grosjean has three] and I said, no. I cannot die today. For my kids, I cannot die today.
"Then I start to twist my head, go up and turn my body. It worked.
"But then my foot was stuck on the pedal. Then I had to go back down to the car, pull as hard as I can on my left leg. The shoe stayed where my foot was and the foot came out.
"Then I went through, the shoulder went through and I knew at that time the shoulder had passed the Halo. I was going to live.
"I knew I had my hands in the fire, I saw my gloves - they are red normally and they started to go full black and I can feel the pain and the burn. But I'm going up.
"I jump on the barrier, then I feel Ian [Roberts, FIA medical delegate] that pulls on my overall and that is an extraordinary feeling. When he pulls me, I know there's someone with me. I'm alive.
"I feel on my back, they touch me and I thought - am I on fire? Then Ian talks to me, saying 'sit down, sit down'. I told him, 'talk to me normally!' I guess at that point he knew I was OK."
This is Grosjean's tenth season in Formula One since his debut in 2009 but he is not being retained by Haas for next year and this is very likely to be his last in F1.
Reuters
