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The site of Romain Grosjean’s fiery Bahrain Grand Prix crash has been reinforced with a tyre barrier ahead of this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix.
Grosjean’s Haas VF-20 hit the guardrail on the right side of the track coming out of Turn 3 at around 137mph (220km/h), piercing the railing and leaving the front of the demolished car embedded in the guardrail.
The splitting of the guardrail was mentioned as a point of concern by both Grosjean’s fellow Grand Prix Drivers Association director Sebastian Vettel and F1 sporting director Ross Brawn in the aftermath of the crash, which is now being investigated by the FIA.
While F1 race director Michael Masi indicated there would be no “knee-jerk reaction” to the accident, a tweak has been made for the upcoming Sakhir GP, which takes place at the same track on the following weekend after the Bahrain GP albeit on a different, streamlined layout.
Masi’s pre-event notes have revealed that “two rows of tyres with conveyor belt will be installed on the right-hand side between T3 and T4”.
The belt-constricted tyre stacks will be added in addition to the guardrail, which has been re-built after the rest of the Bahrain GP was run with a replacement concrete barrier in place.
The notes also communicated tweaks to a section of the track specific to Bahrain outer – the fast sequence of corners on the opposite side of the main straight.
A right-hand kerb between Turn 8 and Turn 9, which set up the run down to the final section of two right-handers, has been removed “to reduce the risk of a car becoming airborne while the Outer circuit layout is being used”, while a tyre barrier at Turn 9 has been extended and increased in depth.
