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

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

Putting the issue down to a like𒉰ly small broken part that was then exacerbated by the speed he was doing, Grosjean admit♐s there was more damage than he expected.

Iꦺt'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 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 practice having sat out FP1 to make way for test dri𓆏ver Jolyon Palmer.