“Thought the worst straight away”- Charles Leclerc couldn’t believe Romain Grosjean survived the horrific crash at Bahrain.
Charles Leclerc appeared to be the only driver on the track who managed to witness the intensity of the crash in the initial seconds after the crash.
Speaking about the crash he said that he was shocked to learn that Grosjean managed to come out of the flames which looked scary from Turn 9.
“I saw the crash in my mirrors, was aware straight away that it was extremely serious and I thought the worst straight away.” said Leclerc.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with BBC Sport, Leclerc said: “I have to be honest, I didn’t have much hope only watching it in the mirrors, and I was extremely worried on the (car-to-pit) radio.
“Unfortunately, there was no news until I got back into the pits and got out of the car to finally know he was out, which I couldn’t really believe, especially because coming into Turn Nine, I saw the flames and the fire.”
Leclerc has seen the death of his godfather, Jules Bianchi, back in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix caused by a massive head injury. Then he also saw the death of his childhood friend Anthoine Hubert who died during an F2 race in Belgium in 2018.
Contacted Grosjean as soon as possible
Leclerc soon texted Grosjean while the latter was still in the hospital, and talked about how the French driver took out time amidst the hectic last few days to respond to him.
“I sent him two messages. The first one, I don’t think he saw it because probably he received thousands of messages, and the second one he replied, probably because he could write again, as I have seen on social media that they took off his bandages.
“He was able to text again and I was happy and he seems to do fine. I didn’t go to see him at the hospital because I expected lots of people there and I didn’t want to bother him.”
