Romain Grosjean carries with him unwanted reminders of his final race in Formula 1. It’s the grotesque scars of his badly burned hands that came in a first-lap crash during the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain Int’l Circuit last November.
Grosjean’s Haas F1 car split in two and burst into flames. Grosjean climbed from the burning wreckage and credited Formula 1’s Halo Device for saving his life.
After he missed the final two races of the season, Grosjean’s contract was not renewed and the Frenchman landed an NTT IndyCar Series ride with Dale Coyne Racing with RWR, competing on the road courses.
In his third race in IndyCar, Grosjean won the pole and finished second to first-time winner Rinus VeeKay in the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 15.
Although he is a rookie in IndyCar, he has 10 years of Formula 1 experience. That’s why it’s strange whenever he hears the word “rookie.”
“It feels strange to be turning 35 and being called a rookie,” Grosjean told SPEED SPORT. “I have everything to learn from the red tires to the races, the pit stops, the refueling, the rolling starts and the tracks. I have a lot to learn, but it’s a very exciting project.
“It is difficult to draw a quick compare, but the thing I can say is in IndyCar everyone has the same tools and you can adapt them to your liking. In Formula 1, it is a tough because you are limited to the car that you have. Here, everyone has the same tool and it’s a great tool to have.”
Grosjean brings a perspective to IndyCar that is much different than some of the other drivers with Formula 1 experience, such as Alexander Rossi in 2016 and Marcus Ericsson in 2019.
Ericsson may be the best driver to compare Grosjean’s level of experience, because Ericsson made 97 F-1 starts before coming to IndyCar, originally with Sam Schmidt’s team before moving to Chip Ganassi Racing in 2020.
But Grosjean is familiar with fellow Frenchman Simon Pagenaud of Team Penske from his early days of competitive racing.
“Funny enough, with Simon, we competed one season in 2004 and then he went to the U.S. and I stayed in Europe,” Grosjean recalled. “All of the drivers have been very nice and giving me advice as they can, but they also want to keep their secret as well, which is normal.
“I want to go on the track and have a good fight with those guys.”
Grosjean’s schedule had him watching the 105th Indianapolis 500 from the sidelines, but he will compete in the two races on the IMS Road Course.
“It’s pretty cool,” Grosjean noted. “I’m very excited about all of the tracks as well as the Indy GP. I’m excited about the whole season. The calendar looks very good.”
When longtime team owner Coyne and his partner, NASCAR team owner Rick Ware, discovered Grosjean had interest in joining IndyCar, they made a serious attempt to land the flying Frenchman.
“Look at his résumé — he’s bringing a lot,” Coyne said of Grosjean. “Formula 1 is such a challenging world to judge a driver because it’s by team. But if you look at what he did, we’re impressed by what he did before he got to Formula 1. He won the GP2 series by 35 points. It was a year that I think nine drivers in that series made it to Formula 1. It wasn’t a light year. He won six junior categories before that. He’s a winner.
“Formula 1, it’s difficult to be a winner unless you’re with the top two or three teams, so we’re going to get him over here with the fourth best team and show that he can still be a winner.”
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