Daniel Ricciardo said he felt vindicated for his comments about Formula One’s replays of Romain Grosjean‘s crash when the Frenchman’s wife, Marion, personally thanked him for what he said.
Ricciardo was disgusted by the coverage of Grosjean’s fiery crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend, from which the French driver miraculously walked away. After the race, Ricciardo said the decision to show endless replays of the crash and Grosjean’s escape from the flames was like « Hollywood. »
Grosjean, who returned to the paddock on Thursday, suffered burns to both hands, which has sidelined him for this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix. Ricciardo said there were no certainties over the Haas driver’s condition when the replays in question were being shown.
« I guess my stance hasn’t changed, » Ricciardo said. « I felt like once they showed it once and then we’d obviously seen him jump out and get into the medical car, I felt like that was all we really needed to see.
« I felt like it was inconsiderate to his family, but also it was a distraction because every time we’d go into the garage and try and find out what was happening, the only thing that was on was it seemed like endless replays.
« And trying to get the engineer’s attention or the mechanics. Everyone was a little bit spaced out or rattled from it all, which is completely understandable.
« I bumped into Romain’s wife, Marion and she appreciated my comments and I think that’s all the validation I needed. »
Ricciardo went on to question the desire to watch a high-speed racing accident.
« For me I was never really into crashes. You get sent clips and, ‘oh, did you see the crashes at the Indy 500 or something?’
« It was never really appealing to me, obviously. Some people love it. Some people love the debris everywhere, but I feel like I’m not 10 years old anymore. You know, you kind of grow out of that. »
Ricciardo said he has arranged a meeting with the relevant people at F1 to elaborate on his concerns.
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen also had fears of internal injuries for his teammate, saying he was still concerned about Grosjean’s well-being when the replays were being shown.
« At that impact, with that speed into the barrier… I’ve had a pretty big impact myself [in the past] and I could feel in that impact, it wouldn’t take a lot more before I’d have problems internally.
« I was just getting nervous and hoping that he would be fine, even though he jumped out of the car. That period in the stoppage, it was pretty horrible. »
Asked how it felt to race after what he had watched, Magnussen said: « It didn’t quite feel right to go back and race after that.
« You suddenly wake up from this dream world where you walk around thinking nothing is going to happen. You see a crash like that and suddenly it becomes real. To get back in the car after, it didn’t quite feel right. »
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/30444388/ricciardo-grosjean-wife-thanked-crash-replay-comments
