Former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean has spoken about how his deadly crash last year has left him scarred.
He discussed how the images and shock are yet to completely go away from his mind and his initial feedback after first feeling the crash.
Grosjean ended a 10-year career in the sport which saw him finish on the podium the same number of times. Interestingly, he notched all his podium finishes while at Lotus.
After switching to Haas, he failed to set the stage alight and his poor form eventually led to him not being offered a new deal.
With no other contracts being offered, he has had to quit the sport as a full-time driver.
On the crash that could have proven fatal, Grosjean has discussed how he never even felt the fire in the car initially.
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“I told everyone there was no fire in the cockpit. Then I saw the images from the onboard camera that have not yet been made public. The fire is everywhere.
Simply everywhere. My brain seems to have suppressed this information as, according to the motto: What does it change? Nothing immediately.”
He went on to detail just what it felt like in the aftermath.
“Two weeks after the accident, however, I suddenly heard the noise of the fire in my ears again,” he said.
“The noise is quite loud, like opening the window on the highway.
“The air as it flows into the car is similar to that in a fire.”
While he was not in tune with his sense organs at the time, failing to realise exactly what smell was coming during the crash, it came back to him in retrospect.
“Suddenly it [smell of burning carbon] was there again. That only happened in retrospect.
“At the time of the accident, that wasn’t important [for the body].
“What does it matter whether I smell the carbon fibre fire or not? My brain has taken in all this information but only saved it. That information only came up recently,” he said.
Grosjean fans will still get a chance to follow the Frenchman in IndyCar, where he has been offered a seat at Dale Coyne Racing.
Having not had a long time to recuperate following this crash, Grosjean has opted out of the superspeedway tracks on the circuit.