Romain Grosjean reunited with F1 helmet that saved his life in 2020 Bahrain crash

Romain Grosjean has been reunited with the Formula 1 race helmet that saved his life during his horrific 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix crash.

The French-Swiss driver suffered a violent crash on the opening lap of the race at the Sakhir circuit. After making contact with Daniil Kvyat, he crashed into the barriers at high speed, breaking the car in half and very quickly becoming engulfed in flames. Amazingly, Grosjean was able to pull himself out of the wreck after being stuck for 28 seconds. While marshals helped pull him away from the fiery and mangled chassis following the 67G impact, he was keen to walk unaided to show his family watching on the screens that he was OK.

The 39-year-old suffered burns to his hands and ankles, which he later had surgery to treat. In addition to the helmet, the halo was credited with saving his life.

"5 years after November 29 2020, I got reunited with my race helmet," he wrote on Instagram. "I didn’t know if I was ready to see it but my kids really wanted to understand how I got so well protected in the fire and what did happen that night.

"I’ll forever be grateful to @bellracinghq and @alpinestars for protecting me so well in that moment.
Life goes and we forget, but that reminds me how much we should make the most of our lives every day."

Since leaving F1 in 2020 and recovering from the crash, Grosjean moved to the IndyCar Series in 2021.

Grosjean had the opportunity to return to the seat of an F1 car in September 2025 with his former team, Haas, as the American outfit carried out testing at the Mugello circuit. 

"I’m incredibly grateful to Gene Haas and to Ayao Komatsu for inviting me to participate in the TPC at Mugello," Grosjean said at the time. "To say I’m excited to get back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car would naturally be an understatement. I really can’t believe it’s been almost five years, but to come back and have this outing with my old team is truly something special.

"I’m excited to see everyone, I’m sure we’ll spend a bit of time reminiscing about the old days, but I’m also keen to be of use regarding the trackside agenda with the VF-23 – it's great the team now has the TPC programme as part of its ongoing development. Finally, my kids had designed my helmet for what was meant to be my final grand prix in Abu Dhabi back in 2020 – I’m at last going to be able to give it a go in a Formula 1 car on Friday."