Romain Grosjean has revealed the extent of the burns to his left hand suffered in his accident in last November’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
Grosjean hit the barrier to the right of the straight after Turn 3 head-on after being pitched sideways when he turned across Daniil Kvyat’s AlphaTauri, but after initially fearing he was trapped was eventually able to escape from the car after suffering burns to both hands.
The injuries kept him out of competing in the final two grands prix of the season, the Sakhir and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, as he headed home to recuperate in Switzerland. He has subsequently returned to competition in sim racing.
On Tuesday the former Haas driver posted an image on Twitter showing the back of both of his hands, showing significant damage in particular to his left hand 43 days after the accident.
Dressing fully off and Petrus happy!!!
🥰🥰🥰 pic.twitter.com/0Ab3r2fcW1— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) January 12, 2021
Grosjean has kept fans updated on his progress through social media during the recovery and stated on Monday that he no longer required dressing on his left hand. He had previously spent some periods with the dressing removed before it could be taken off permanently.
“Full day with no dressing,” wrote Grosjean on Sunday. “Bloody hell, it feels good. So easy to forget how good our bodies are when working well. Back into dressing for the night before meeting my surgeon tomorrow to check the progress.”
Full day with no dressing. Bloody hell it feels good. So easy to forget how good our bodies are when working well! Back into dressing for the night before meeting my surgeon tomorrow to check the progress !🙏
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) January 10, 2021
On January 7 he had also celebrated having the chance for his left hand to be free of its dressing for five hours.
Grosjean has continued to take a positive approach to his accident and injuries, even joking on New Years Eve that “I may avoid playing with fireworks tonight”.
His right hand was free of dressing last month and he posted an image of it on December 28, stating that his left hand was not yet ready for a photograph.
Can you imagine I was in a fire almost a month ago? Left hand getting better also but not yet ready for 📸 #soon#recovery #happy pic.twitter.com/ztLeRiqeW0
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) December 28, 2020
Grosjean also underwent surgery to fix thumb ligament damage and clean his wounds on December 15, stating on Twitter that “everything went well”.
In a video released on his YouTube channel in December, Grosjean says that he still hopes to race this year but that he also wants to have an impact on motorsport safety following his accident.
“I don’t know yet,” he said of his plans for 2021.
“I think first things first, recovering my hands with full mobility and be healthy.
“I’m working psychologically, obviously that was a big shock and I would lie if I said that the image doesn’t come back sometimes. But I think Romain Grosjean will be racing. Romain Grosjean is born to race and wants to give to motorsport more.
“But also I would like to give to motorsport safety and experience and everything I went through and I believe.”
