4-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel was the first person to pay Grosjean a visit at the hospital after his crash in Bahrain last year.
Romain Grosjean, who was driving for Haas in 2020, suffered a horrific accident in the first lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix that year. After making contact with Daniil Kvyat’s Alpha Tauri, the Frenchman’s car hit the barriers and burst into flames. Miraculously, he jumped out of the burning vehicle with only minor injuries.
Grosjean was taken to the hospital immediately after the crash. The current IndyCar driver revealed that Sebastian Vettel was the first person to visit him the next morning.
Grosjean was determined to shake his off injuries and hop back into the Haas car for their race in Abu Dhabi. However, according to him, the former Ferrari driver urged him to rethink his decision.
Romain Grosjean will spend another night in hospital as a precaution but he’s keen to race in Abu Dhabi, says @HaasF1Team boss Guenther Steiner #F1 https://t.co/O0WBGMDgQ5
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 1, 2020
Go home and rest, Sebastian Vettel said to Grosjean at the hospital
“On Monday, November 30, I woke up at six in the morning,” he said in his autobiography.
“Someone arrived very early and in a rather unexpected way: Sebastian Vettel. He was worried about me. “Seb is probably the driver that I feel closest to. He is living the same life as me with his three children. He wants to protect that life as much as possible.”
“When I told him I wanted to race the last race he said, ‘No, you need to go home and rest!’ “I explained to him that it was the end of my career and that I did not want to end this way.”
In spite of their best efforts, doctors could not clear Romain for the race in Abu Dhabi in 2 weeks time and thus, his F1 career came to an end.
Haas already announced a couple of weeks before the race that Grosjean would not be racing for them next year. His final race in F1 was going to be at the Yas Marina circuit. Unfortunately, the injuries he suffered in Sakhir forced him into an early retirement.
