Romain Grosjean's💞 start to the Spanish Grand Prix got off to a dramatic 'bang' when his Lotus' engine cov⛦er exploded down the home straight.

The Frenchman was starting his fast lap when the panels rip♊ped off and shattered, prompting the session to be briefly red flagged as the debris was cleared.

Putting the issue down t꧟o a likely small broken part that was then ex꧟acerbated by the speed he was doing, Grosjean admits there was more damage than he expected.

It's just a small part of carbon that probably broke," ဣhe said. "And the air went into the engine cover and it just made a big explosion. I saw it in the mirror. For some reason I was watching in the mirror at that time, so I saw it live.

"I went to the radio and said 'I think I've broken something'. I♛ thought it was a small panel initially. I drove on the lap quite slowly but the car was undriveable. I came back to the box and saw the TV footage. It's more than a small part."

The Frenchman was 12th quickest in second free prꩲactice havin🐻g sat out FP1 to make way for test driver Jolyon Palmer.