Grosjean's Final F1 Run
Image credit: Alberto G Rovi via Wikimedia Commons
On the 26th of September, Romain Grosjean, 10-time podium finisher in Formula 1, took part in a private test at Mugello with his former team, Haas.
The 39-year-old Swiss-born Frenchman, who drove in 181 races for Renault, Lotus, and Haas, returned to the wheel of a Formula 1 car following his horrific crash at the start of the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix. The 67G crash on the opening tour was one of the most violent accidents the sport had seen in years. After clipping the front wing of the Alpha Tauri driver Daniel Kvyat, Grosjean's car burst into flames, splitting the barrier in two before coming to a rest. The Frenchman was stuck in the flames for 28 seconds, receiving burns to his hands and ankles in the process.
Grosjean was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the 2020 season, being replaced by Pietro Fittipaldi, the reserve and test driver for the team. Fittipaldi raced for both the Sakhir and Abu Dhabi rounds of the season, but Grosjean chose not to return to the sport afterward and instead decided to compete in IndyCar for Dale Coyne Racing. He would continue racing in the series until the end of 2024, driving for both Andretti and Juncos Hollinger Racing.
Since leaving Formula 1, he had been promised a run with the Mercedes Formula 1 Team by team boss Toto Wolff. Though plans for a 2021 test were made, commitments to IndyCar clashed with the Formula 1 calendar, preventing this from fully materialising, with the run meant to allow Grosjean to drive Lewis Hamilton’s 2019 championship-winning car. Later Grosjean stated that it was “his fault”; the schedules between the two parties never fully aligned.
Haas then offered Grosjean a chance to test drive their 2023 car, the VF-23. This was allowed under the Testing of Previous Cars programme, where teams can use cars that are at least 2 seasons old at the time of the test. Current drivers who have used the same scheme include Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli when he was preparing to join the Silver Arrows and Max Verstappen when trying to get on top of the 2024 Red Bull RB20.
Taking to the track with a helmet designed by his children, Grosjean admitted that he was brought to tears due to support from his former team. The test was not meant to be about the number of laps or lap times, but rather a swan song for the man who completed 98 races for the newest team on the grid. Speaking to the official Formula 1 Website, Grosjean stated, “They made me cry at the end of the day! I kept my visor down, but for my last in-lap everyone from Ferrari, Red Bull, Pirelli and, of course, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team was here, clapping and giving me, like, an ovation. That’s something I was expecting in Abu Dhabi 2020, but I think it was even better today.”