Romain Grosjean (on the left of the picture) evacuated by the medical team after his terrible accident during the GP in Barheïn, November 29, 2020. -

Hamad Mohammed / AP / SIPA

“I saw death too closely.

You can't go through that and be the same man, ”French F1 driver Romain Grosjean told AFP, three days after his appalling accident at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

"These 28 seconds seemed like 1 minute 30 to me, but it didn't seem long to me, because I have always been active", he remembers Wednesday, when he left the hospital with burns to his hands. , a sprained left ankle and bruises on the same side of the body.

“The impact is not the most violent I have experienced in my career, although the G's indicate it.

The deceleration of 53 G [53 times the weight of his body], I had never taken that, ”says Grosjean.

“Then I undo my seat belt right away, I try to get out of the car, I realize that my helmet is hitting something.

I sit down again, I tell myself that I am stuck and that I will wait.

"

"But on my left it's all orange, I understand it's burning.

I say to myself: "No time to wait, I'm going to try to get out on the right", it doesn't work.

On the left, it does not go.

I sit down ”, continues the Franco-Swiss.

“I thought of Niki Lauda and said to myself: 'I can't end up like this, not now'.

So I try to get out again, it doesn't work, I sit down and I see death, not up close, but too close, ”he continues.

A silence, his voice trembles, his gaze is veiled.

“It's a feeling I don't wish on anyone.

"

Thank you all for your messages 🙏 pic.twitter.com/RMAIoqwkkz

- Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) December 1, 2020

"It's relief, I'm going to live"

“The body relaxes, the muscles, the head, everything.

I wondered where I was going to start to burn, if it was going to hurt, but I think it's a moment that allows the brain to "process" what is happening and try to find a solution.

He then thinks of his three children.

"Telling myself that I can't leave them, that's where I found the resource to pull my blocked foot, to turn my head, to put my shoulders, to put my hands to hoist myself up knowing that they were going to burn, but that was okay.

"

“When I put my foot on the barrier and get out of it, it's relief, I'm going to live,” recalls the 34-year-old pilot.

“Don't panic, I try to cool my hands by waving them, I take off my gloves, because I don't want them to stick to the skin.

Then comes the pain in his left foot, which he thinks has been broken, but Romain Grosjean insists on walking to the ambulance.

Yet "in a state of shock", he "wants the helicopter to take this image, for everyone to see that it is walking."

"

"It will change my life forever"

It is because he was "afraid for the people outside", not for himself, and wants to reassure them, starting with his family.

Arrived at the medical center, "I begin to tremble strongly with the pain and the shock", adds Grosjean.

Jean Todt, the president of the International Automobile Federation, joins him.

“Seeing familiar faces is priceless.

This is also where the driver of the Haas team can finally talk to his wife.

Since then, he "follows the indications of the doctors to recover as quickly as possible" and he consulted the sports psychologist who has been following him for years.

If his left hand allows it, the native of Geneva hopes to participate in the last GP of the season in Abu Dhabi on December 13, "to know where I am".

It could be his last Grand Prix in F1, since he will leave his seat to the son of Michael Schumacher next year.

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