F1 | Ferrari, Binotto: “We knew since Friday that it would be a difficult race”

The most important news from the Bahrain Grand Prix, held today on the Sakhir track, is that Romain Grosjan emerged practically unscathed from a terrible accident during the first lap. His Haas broke through the barriers and caught fire, but the Halo, the robustness of the cockpit cell and the promptness of the marshals and the Medical Car staff allowed the French driver to get out of the car alone and be helped immediately.

This episode confirms once again the very high level of safety achieved by the current Formula 1 cars. As for Ferrari, the Grand Prix was suspended for over an hour to restore the protective barriers, and on the second start it saw a good departure of Leclerc who managed to climb up to seventh position. However, the Monegasque driver then lost ground and returned to fighting for tenth place, which he actually took home, after having struggled a lot to find a good pace, especially in the first phase of the race. Vettel, on the other hand, ended up at the back of the group to avoid Lance Stroll's crashed car on the first lap, and struggled at the back of the group, failing to achieve a position in the points.

“Any consideration of the result is secondary to the relief felt when Romain emerged almost unscathed from the frightening accident in which he was the protagonist – said Mattia Binotto, Ferrari team principal. What happened today testifies to the extraordinary work done by the FIA ​​in terms of safety and the courage and professionalism of all the staff who make the holding of a Grand Prix possible. Without the progress made in recent years, and I am referring above all to the introduction of the Halo, today we would have to comment on something tragic. Ours was a disappointing result but we had seen since Friday that it would be an uphill weekend. Now we have a few days ahead of us to analyze all the data carefully and understand where and how we can improve the behavior of the car in view of next weekend: if it is true that we will race again in Sakhir, therefore in asphalt conditions and temperatures identical to today's ones, we will do it on a completely new track, which could offer some opportunities. It will be up to us to be able to grasp them and try to do better than we did in this Grand Prix."