The sun sets early in Bahrain in November. By the time Romain Grosjean had driven into last place on the starting grid behind his old team-mate Kimi Raikkonen there was a full moon shining even brighter than the 5000 lights on the 495 light poles around the 5km circuit.
The Bahrain International Circuit is actually in the middle of the desert. It was built on an old camel farm at Sakhir. The surface is graywacke aggregate shipped 6400km from the Bayston Hill Quarry in Shropshire. It gives unbelievable grip, which is helpful on a high-speed, tight circuit where F1 cars can hit 320km/h on the straight and then have to lose 250km/h in a few seconds to make a right, then a left, then a right before powering up onto another straight.
Last Sunday night was a bittersweet time for the 34-year-old Swiss-born Frenchman. Grosjean has been racing for 20 years. Eight of those full-time in F1. He's one of those drivers who has amazing talent but never had the money or luck to make that talent work at the highest level of the sport. But this is his third last race before Haas lets him go and replaces him with Mick Schumacher.
Suddenly cars are jamming up, slowing down and, as he goes around turn one, Grosjean is looking at the derrieres of at least 10 cars. Coming out of turn three he has four cars in a group a few metres ahead. He sees a chance to the right to go out wide and pass them. What he can't see, because F1 mirrors give you a limited view back rather than to the side, is that Daniil Kvyat is beside him.
Grosjean puts his foot down and goes hard right across the track. He clips Kvyat's front right wheel. From there he goes nearly straight into the steel crash barrier at 220km/h and a force of 56Gs. His car penetrates the barrier, cutting the Haas in half. The fuel cell in the middle of the car with 100kg of high-octane fuel explodes into fire.
"I see my visor turning all orange, I see the flames on the left side of the car. I thought about a lot of things — including Niki Lauda — and I thought that it wasn't possible to end up like that, not now. For my children, I told myself that I had to get out. I put my hands in the fire, so I clearly felt it burning on the chassis. I stayed 28 seconds in the flames but it seemed much longer, as I tried to get out … three times."
A few things went wrong and a lot of things went right. His head wasn't cut off because of the Halo, a 7kg piece of titanium that looks like a wishbone, going from the bonnet over the driver's head to near the back of the seat. He was able to survive 28 seconds in a horrendous fire because of his fireproof racing suit.