29/09/2017
NEWS STORY
"Initially I thought I blew out a tyre or something like that on the kerb," said Romain Grosjean following the violent crash that brought FP2 to a premature end today.
"I didn't see the drain at all," he admitted. "I've seen the replays a bit later with the drain coming up and hitting the tyre. It is unfortunate.
"It was a pretty big hit," he said, in a masterpiece of understatement. "17Gs is never nice to have, but again those cars are very, very strong and thanks to all the safety that's been made.
"The worst right now is just to see the guys having to work twice as hard having to put the car back in one piece, and the fact it was a new floor and we don't have a new one anymore. Those parts where we don't have thousands of them and they're broken.
"It's a concern but I know the circuit and FIA are going to go through and make sure everything is well in place for tomorrow. I've got no doubt that that will do that well and we can go racing, and racing hard.
"I got into Turn 12 and I felt something wrong on the rear of the car," he revealed. "I didn't know what it was. I spun around and hit the wall pretty hard. I thought initially it was a tyre that blew off but obviously it was a drain that came out of the track and hit the rear tyres. That's when it exploded.
"It was unusual. I didn't initially really understand. When you're spinning around and you know there is a wall coming you focus on knowing when you are going to hit it and contract yourself. I knew something strange happened.
"During the driver's briefing Charlie (Whiting) apologised, I know they're going to be working really hard to make it better for tomorrow. I'm lucky I've got nothing, damage to the car was a shame but I think most important thing is that I'm okay and that it's going to be sorted for tomorrow."