Romain Grosjean thought he broke his finger during F1 Eifel GP after gravel thrown by an off for Kimi Raikkonen hit his helmet and knuckle.
It was indeed a topsy-turvy F1 Eifel GP at Nurburging for Haas’ Grosjean, who thought his finger broke after getting hit by gravel, which was thrown into his way by a slight off for Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen on Lap 2 at the entry of Turn 11.
Raikkonen already had a bigger off on Lap 1 when he tried to evade drivers ahead of him locking-up and then had another twitchy moment which resulted in gravel going straight into the cockpit of Grosjean – which was captured in video shown post the grand prix.
It was a scary moment for Grosjean, certainly, but he could drive through the pain to eventually end up in points in ninth – his first of 2020 and first since the 2019 German GP – by virtue of a good strategy of medium-hard on his side of the garage.
“Frist of all, I am very happy for everyone,” said Grosjean to TV media. “All of the strong work we have done recently, since Silverstone Race 1, we have been nailing the car and getting better and better with everything aligned.
“In the race, everything worked as we tried a different strategy, quite risky as well under safety car to be on the hard compounds but managed to get the car work enough. At the start, in Turn 2, I went on the outside, and it was a bad idea.
“The grip was very low but I wanted to try. I gained some positions but it didn’t work. On the medium, I thought the soft will start graining early but it didn’t, and actually the medium wasn’t good. When everyone pitted, the pace was good as I could push the car.
“I went on the hard and it really behaved well, not good with safety car but we could unlap ourselves and generate enough temperature to re-start nicely. As for the finger, it is blue and painful but better. I can move it. Initially I thought it was really broken.
“I couldn’t use it for sometime. I was turning in Turn 11 after Kimi went in the gravel and the gravel went straight into my knuckle, some hit my helmet too,” summed up Grosjean, as teammate Kevin Magnussen rued his strategy, which didn’t deliver to be 13th.
Here’s the video of the moment: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2020/10/2020_Eifel_Grand_Prix__Grosjean_hurt_by_flying_gravel.html
Here’s Kimi Raikkonen on his clash with George Russell