Romain Grosjean's start to the Spanish Grand Prix gꦅot off to a dramatic 'bang' when his Lotus' engine cover exploded down the home s𒈔traight.

The Frenchman was starting his fast lap when the p🎃an𓃲els ripped off and shattered, prompting the session to be briefly red flagged as the debris was cleared.

Putting the issue💎 down to a likely small broken part that was then exacerbated 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," he said. "And the air went into the engine cover and it just made a big explosion. I saw it in the mirror. For some rea𝄹son I was𒁏 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.꧑"

The Frenchman was 12th quickest in second free practice having sat💟 out FP1 to make way for test driver Jolyo⛄n Palmer.