Romain Grosjean: Bahrain crash is why I won't race on ovals in IndyCar - F1 News 03 02 21
The biggest stories in F1 today - check out http://www.formulaspy.com! Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thomasmaheronf1 Buy me a coffee! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MidcHN8 Romain Grosjean says his Bahrain crash changed his mind about tackling a full IndyCar programme for 2021, as he's signed up to race in the American series in 2021. Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean is making the switch to IndyCar for 2021, taking up a seat in the No.51 Honda fielded by Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware. He'll be teaming up with race engineer Olivier Boisson at the team, and plans on commuting to races from Switzerland as he has no intention of uprooting his family at this early stage of his IndyCar career - particularly while his kids are still in school. Grosjean lost his seat at Haas for this season, with the American team replacing both him and teammate Kevin Magnussen in favour of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. With just a few weeks of his F1 career remaining, Grosjean had a ferocious crash on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix and he says that crash changed his mind about his approach to his 2021 racing plans. Having spoken openly about facing death in the fiery crash, which resulted in him picking up burn injuries to both hands, Grosjean says he made his mind up to not take part in oval racing for now. “Yes, 100%”, said Grosjean. “I got in contact with Dale Coyne before the Bahrain incident, I think the week before Imola or a couple of weeks before that. We got on very nicely, and he made an offer that I was going to do the full championship.” “Then Bahrain happened and, for a moment, I thought I was dead.” Grosjean continued. Being a father of three kids, I have to be sensible in my decisions and choices for the future. The minute I don’t feel comfortable…not especially for me, but for my kids and my wife to risk ovals and speedways. There may be options I could look at like Gateway, the short track, but the superspeedways I don’t feel like I can risk it for my kids and my wife.” While that is the situation as his IndyCar career begins with Dale Coyne Racing, Grosjean says that it’s not a blanket ban forever and that, as he finds himself adjusting to the cars and the series, he may reconsider. “It’s hard to predict the future. The first text I got from my friend and manager Martin after the accident was ‘let’s forget about IndyCar’. After such a terrible day, you can understand that but then you say ‘I still want to do it.’ Ovals, I don’t know, and the risk is there. Motorsport is always going to be risky, and we know that from go-karts. But then it’s about what level you accept and, for now, ovals and superspeedways not in the least. Who knows in the future but, for now, it’s not in the question.” "Well, I think if I was 25 and single or even with no kids, I would be racing ovals definitely. No, it's also a family choice. I think on the 29th of November, 2020, for 2 minutes 45 seconds thought they had lost a dad and my wife unfortunately lost her husband. The idea of putting them back into that situation, really I can't take it. The speedways at the minute, no. But I am not saying 100% no to Gateway. Let's see how the season goes. If we can do some testing on short track and see how it goes. It's not 100% yes and 100% no, but for now I just need to look after my family in the speedways." With Dale Coyne Racing confirming his first appearance in their car will be on the 22nd of February at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, he has less than three weeks of recovery time left to get his hands fully ready for a return to the very physical world of driving. Asked about his recovery, he says he's confident he'll be ready for the challenge of having no power steering. "It's going okay. This is my left hand, so it's still quite marked. But it's uglier than it is bad, I would say. It's all working well. The left hand ligament was pulled away. I've had surgery. This is going okay. I think the first test for us is the 22nd of February. I may not yet be 100% in terms of what I can do, but definitely good enough to drive very well. By the time we go to race one, I think I'm going to be ready. I'm not worried about it. I've been in the gym since the accident. The accident happened on Sunday in Bahrain. By Wednesday I was already in the gym trying to get the mobility going. It was a difficult call for the doctors between stopping my hands to move and getting the recovery and the skin faster, or keeping it moving to keep the strength and the mobility. But we knew there were more risk of delaying the healing. With the season start being postponed a little bit, all actually played in my hand, if I can use the play of word (laughter). As I say, I am not worried that we're going to be okay. In terms of physical training, I've been going in the gym quite a bit because I know there is no power steering in INDYCAR. That's something I need to relearn."
The biggest stories in F1 today - check out http://www.formulaspy.com! Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thomasmaheronf1 Buy me a coffee! - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/MidcHN8 Romain Grosjean says his Bahrain crash changed his mind about tackling a full IndyCar programme for 2021, as he's signed up to race in the American series in 2021. Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean is making the switch to IndyCar for 2021, taking up a seat in the No.51 Honda fielded by Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware. He'll be teaming up with race engineer Olivier Boisson at the team, and plans on commuting to races from Switzerland as he has no intention of uprooting his family at this early stage of his IndyCar career - particularly while his kids are still in school. Grosjean lost his seat at Haas for this season, with the American team replacing both him and teammate Kevin Magnussen in favour of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. With just a few weeks of his F1 career remaining, Grosjean had a ferocious crash on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix and he says that crash changed his mind about his approach to his 2021 racing plans. Having spoken openly about facing death in the fiery crash, which resulted in him picking up burn injuries to both hands, Grosjean says he made his mind up to not take part in oval racing for now. “Yes, 100%”, said Grosjean. “I got in contact with Dale Coyne before the Bahrain incident, I think the week before Imola or a couple of weeks before that. We got on very nicely, and he made an offer that I was going to do the full championship.” “Then Bahrain happened and, for a moment, I thought I was dead.” Grosjean continued. Being a father of three kids, I have to be sensible in my decisions and choices for the future. The minute I don’t feel comfortable…not especially for me, but for my kids and my wife to risk ovals and speedways. There may be options I could look at like Gateway, the short track, but the superspeedways I don’t feel like I can risk it for my kids and my wife.” While that is the situation as his IndyCar career begins with Dale Coyne Racing, Grosjean says that it’s not a blanket ban forever and that, as he finds himself adjusting to the cars and the series, he may reconsider. “It’s hard to predict the future. The first text I got from my friend and manager Martin after the accident was ‘let’s forget about IndyCar’. After such a terrible day, you can understand that but then you say ‘I still want to do it.’ Ovals, I don’t know, and the risk is there. Motorsport is always going to be risky, and we know that from go-karts. But then it’s about what level you accept and, for now, ovals and superspeedways not in the least. Who knows in the future but, for now, it’s not in the question.” "Well, I think if I was 25 and single or even with no kids, I would be racing ovals definitely. No, it's also a family choice. I think on the 29th of November, 2020, for 2 minutes 45 seconds thought they had lost a dad and my wife unfortunately lost her husband. The idea of putting them back into that situation, really I can't take it. The speedways at the minute, no. But I am not saying 100% no to Gateway. Let's see how the season goes. If we can do some testing on short track and see how it goes. It's not 100% yes and 100% no, but for now I just need to look after my family in the speedways." With Dale Coyne Racing confirming his first appearance in their car will be on the 22nd of February at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, he has less than three weeks of recovery time left to get his hands fully ready for a return to the very physical world of driving. Asked about his recovery, he says he's confident he'll be ready for the challenge of having no power steering. "It's going okay. This is my left hand, so it's still quite marked. But it's uglier than it is bad, I would say. It's all working well. The left hand ligament was pulled away. I've had surgery. This is going okay. I think the first test for us is the 22nd of February. I may not yet be 100% in terms of what I can do, but definitely good enough to drive very well. By the time we go to race one, I think I'm going to be ready. I'm not worried about it. I've been in the gym since the accident. The accident happened on Sunday in Bahrain. By Wednesday I was already in the gym trying to get the mobility going. It was a difficult call for the doctors between stopping my hands to move and getting the recovery and the skin faster, or keeping it moving to keep the strength and the mobility. But we knew there were more risk of delaying the healing. With the season start being postponed a little bit, all actually played in my hand, if I can use the play of word (laughter). As I say, I am not worried that we're going to be okay. In terms of physical training, I've been going in the gym quite a bit because I know there is no power steering in INDYCAR. That's something I need to relearn."