Kyvat's car burst into flames on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix
Romain Grosjean's car burst into flames on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix Image Credit: AFP

Dubai: Romain Grosjean walked away from a potentially fatal crash on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Manama on Sunday.

The French-Swiss 34-year-old escaped from a fireball after a horrific first-lap crash when his car split in two and burst into flames. The French driver's Haas machine skewed into a barrier on turn three, coming out the other side ablaze and in two parts.

Track marshals at the scene helped Grosjean clamber over the barrier to safety as they extinguished the fire. A clearly shaken Grosjean was taken back to the pits by the medical car at the Sakhir Circuit. The race was immediately red-flagged and the rest of the cars filed back to the pit lane.

Lance Stroll flipped his car on the restart in a race that over-ran its time by two hours, due to the yellow and red flags.

When the racing began in anger, you could see a cautious approach, and Lewis Hamilton cantered to another victory -  compounding his dominance as the greatest driver of all time.