Saudi Arabian GP Marshal Removed After Wishing Wreck on Lewis Hamilton

A marshal working the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has been removed following a tweet saying the individual hoped Lewis Hamilton had an accident similar to Romain Grosjean’s fiery wreck in the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The message was written in Arabic and posted on Saturday morning, which translated as "I hope he has an accident like Romain in Bahrain,” per ESPN. The FIA was alerted about the matter and investigated. A spokesperson confirmed to multiple outlets that the individual would not take part in the Jeddah event. 

The individual, whose account is now private, posted an apology, per ESPN, “I would like to apologise to SAMF (Saudi Arabian Motorsport Federation) and Lewis and announce my resignation from my duties on track.”

On Nov. 29, 2020, Grosjean’s car hit a metal barrier while going 119 mph, causing an explosive fireball at the Bahrain Grand Prix. A crash report estimated the impact was at 67 Gs, a force equivalent to 67 times his body weight. Heavy braking in an F1 car typically produces approximately six Gs.

Grosjean’s car was split in two after colliding into the barrier, quickly catching fire. He was caught in the cockpit for approximately 27 seconds, according to the report, before he scrambled out.

“I try to go up a bit more on the right, it doesn’t work, go on the left, doesn’t work so I sit back down and thought about Niki Lauda, his accident, thought it couldn’t end like this, it couldn’t be my last race, it couldn’t finish like this, no way, so I try again,” Grosjean said to F1 less than a week after the accident. “Then there’s the less pleasant moment where my body start to relax, I’m in peace with myself and I’m going to die.

“Then I think about my kids, and I say 'No, they cannot lose their Dad today.’ So I don’t know why I did what I did, but I decided to turn my helmet on the left hand side and to go up like this and try and twist my shoulder. That sort of works, but then I realise my foot is stuck in the car so I sit back down, pull as hard as I can on my left leg. The shoe stayed where my foot was but my foot came out of the shoe, and then I do it again and the shoulders are going through and by the time the shoulder was through, I know I’m going to jump out.”

By doing so, Grosjean had to put both his hands in flames, and he saw his gloves starting to melt as he felt the pain radiate. But he also felt relief that he was out of the vehicle. He managed to walk away with minor burns on the back of his hands and a sprained left ankle, and was discharged from the hospital fairly soon after the incident.

Hamilton will start near the back of the grid after being eliminated during the first round of qualifying Saturday.