“… then we would have withdrawn from the race!”

(Motorsport-Total.com) – The fact that the drivers had to watch Romain Grosjean’s crash in a continuous loop during the break annoyed many of the drivers on Sunday. They didn’t necessarily want to see the accident again if they were to get back in the car soon.

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It wasn’t easy for the drivers to get back into focus Enlarge

Sebastian Vettel admits that doubts arise right now as to whether you should get back in the car. “Definitely for me,” he admits. “You are human. We love what we do and this comes first, but even if you respect it, you probably underestimate what can happen,” said the German.

“I don’t think anyone expected an accident like that. It was a bit strange, but I guess in the end it was better to get back in the car right away and not wait another week and think about it too long,” says Vettel.

Despair in Charles Leclerc

Teammate Charles Leclerc agrees with Vettel’s words. The Monegasse especially had to nibble because he had seen the accident up close in the rearview mirror. On the radio he asked several times if everything was okay, and when after a while he still had no answer, he threw his hands over his head in despair as he drove.

“It’s always hard to get back into the car after something like this, but it’s the best we can do,” said the Ferrari driver. “We need our full concentration on the track, and everyone focused completely on the race and their work. However, it was difficult to get back to focus.”

Max Verstappen meanwhile has a different view. He announced in the press conference that he would immediately fire a driver if he didn’t want to drive again after such an accident. “Fortunately, you are not my team leader,” said Lewis Hamilton.

Wolff: The withdrawal from the race is an option

His team leader is Toto Wolff, and the Austrian himself does not generally rule out a retirement from the race. At Mercedes, they sat down briefly after Grosjean’s accident, but saw that the Frenchman was able to get out of the car.

“If he – God forbid – had been hurt worse then we probably would have dropped out that day,” says Wolff. “Health and life are more important than a race or a sporting event”.

According to him, getting riders back into the car takes a lot of courage: “Too often we forget that it’s a dangerous sport and that these guys drive on the track at over 350km / h,” Wolff said.

Wolff: The cameras don’t really show the speed

“Today’s modern cameras and wide-angle cameras don’t really show speeds, but you can see what’s going on. It’s always been dangerous, even with today’s security facilities,” he continues, and he wants to further increase safety.

“It was difficult for anyone who saw the photos. When we saw Romain get out of the car and he looked relatively unharmed, it was an immense relief. He still has burns, which is bad enough, but he should have been he can walk terribly worse.”

The fact that Grosjean got off so lightly is also thanks to the constant efforts for safety, although Formula 1 is considered quite safe. The introduction of the Halo was heavily criticized at the time – even by Grosjean – but on Sunday the system probably saved his life.

Wurz: There will always be prophecies of doom

“The prophecies of doom that I heard two years ago that is already so certain, we will hear them again and again. But we are always taught better,” says former pilot Alexander Wurz, head of the topic Safety begins in “ORF” .

“Formula 1 has improved dramatically since the 1970s, although we’ve gotten faster and faster in terms of performance. This speaks for the safety system, but it doesn’t mean you can rest and you don’t have to rest under any circumstances,” he said. the Austrian. “We are already relatively far from the safety of the cars, but we still have to keep working.”

“That a driver gets out of the car in such an accident. Incredible,” said Wurz, who recalled the accident that Elio de Angelis had at Le Castellet. “There he entered the guardrail, the guardrail opened and had a fatal accident.”

“But the cars have improved so dramatically. And you have to say that all the safety precautions such a monocoque goes through, from front impact protection, including the halo – it all saved lives here,” said Wurz.