Romain Grosjean will drive a Formula 1 car tomorrow for the first time since he climbed out of a fireball almost five years ago.
The 39-year-old was nearing the end of his F1 career when he suffered a huge crash on the first lap of the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix. The 67G impact tore his Haas VF-20 in two and ignited a huge blaze. Grosjean emerged from the flames with burns to his hands, injuries which prevented him contesting the season’s final two grands prix.
Now Haas has announced Grosjean will reunite with his former team for a test at the Mugello circuit in Italy. He will drive a VF-23 chassis of the type raced by the team in 2023.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu, who was Grosjean’s race engineer during their time at Lotus, will return to his former role on the pit wall for the test. Grosjean’s most recent F1 race engineer, Dominic Haines, who now runs Haas’s heritage programme, will also be on-site along with his former number one mechanic Ian Staniforth.
Grosjean participated in the only grand prix to take place at the Mugello track in 2020, when the F1 calendar was drastically reshaped due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He finished the Tuscan Grand Prix 12th and last in a season when the struggling Haas team scored just three points.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Gene Haas and to Ayao Komatsu for inviting me to participate in the TPC [testing of previous cars] at Mugello,” said Grosjean. “To say I’m excited to get back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car would naturally be an understatement.
“I really can’t believe it’s been almost five years, but to come back and have this outing with my old team is truly something special.”
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Grosjean will wear the helmet his children designed for what should have been his final F1 start in the 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. “I’m at last going to be able to give it a go in a Formula 1 car on Friday,” he said.
Mercedes originally offered Grosjean the opportunity to test one of their cars after his 179-race career was cut short. He completed a seat fitting at the team and a demonstration run was planned for him in Lewis Hamilton’s 2019 world championship-winning W10 at the 2021 French Grand Prix, followed by a two-day test at the Paul Ricard circuit.
However those plans were scrapped after F1 changed the date of the race due to the ongoing pandemic. Grosjean’s move into IndyCar and sportscar racing in America complicated attempts to reschedule the appearance.
Komatsu said it was “only fitting” for Grosjean to drive one of their cars again and he was “absolutely thrilled” to give him the opportunity to.
“Romain and I have worked together throughout his entire Formula 1 career so this test at Mugello is of particular significance to us both,” he said. “I’m delighted he embraced the opportunity to come and get back behind the wheel with us, a day that’s going to be made extra special by having so many members of the original crew back together to witness it.
“It should be a fun day and knowing Romain as I do, I know he’ll want to give it his all as usual – I’d expect nothing less, not least as we’ve talked about making this happen for a long time now.”
Haas will also use the test to give Grosjean’s former IndyCar rival, James Hinchcliffe, his first run in an F1 car. The six-time IndyCar race-winner is now a presenter for F1 TV.
Esteban Ocon is conducting a Pirelli tyre test in one of Haas’s cars at Mugello today.
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