A smiling Romain Grosjean, maintaining his sense of humor despite heavily bandaged hands, sent an update from his hospital bed Sunday after escaping serious injury in a horrifying wreck.

The Haas F1 team said in a statement that Grosjean would be held overnight at the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital to be treated for burns on both hands after he was engulfed in flames for nearly 20 seconds after crashing on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

After initial concern about a broken rib, the team said all of Grosjean’s X-rays were clear of fractures.

Grosjean didn’t address his injuries in detail during an upbeat video post on Insagram, but he did praise the halo safety device that was credited by many drivers and Formula One officials with saving his life.

“Hello everyone, just wanted to say I’m OK,” Grosjean said in an Instagram video (see below), wriggling his hands. “But sort of OK. Thank you very much for all the messages.

“I wasn’t for the halo some years ago, but I think it’s the greatest thing that we’ve brought to Formula One. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to speak to you today. Hopefully, I can write you quite soon some messages and tell you how it’s going.”

 

The race was restarted after a delay of more than an hour to repair an ARMCO barrier that Grosjean’s car completely penetrated during the fiery crash. There was another unsettling crash in which Lance Stroll’s car got upside down, but the Racing Point driver was uninjured.

Lewis Hamilton won from the pole position, but his thoughts remained on the Grosjean crash after his 11th victory of the season.

“What a crazy day,” said Hamilton, who also posted his thoughts during the red flag. “I’m so glad that both Romain and Lance were able to walk away from their accidents today.”

 

 

In a nice gesture from fans, F1 also announced that Grosjean was voted as the Driver of the Day for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

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