Romain Grosjean reacts to F1 return run five years on from life-altering Bahrain crash
Romain Grosjean shows off his helmet during a recent TPC outing with Haas.
Five years ago, Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean saw his career end in flames when a wreck launched his VF-20 through a barrier at the Bahrain circuit and transformed into a major fireball.
Grosjean has continued racing since then, but he wasn’t able to end his F1 career on his own terms — not until now, when Haas invited the French driver to Mugello for a Testing Previous Cars program.
Romain Grosjean returns to the F1 cockpit
The 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix brought a premature end to Romain Grosjean’s Formula 1 career when a shocking first-lap collision saw his Haas VF-20 lose control, pierce through the Armco barriers beside the track, and burst into flames.
Fiery wrecks of that nature are extremely rare in a safety-conscious modern F1, and Grosjean was trapped in the flames for 28 grueling seconds before he was able to wrench himself free, suffering two burned hands but walking away with his life.
Sadly, it marked a premature end to the driver’s F1 career; though he has since raced in IndyCar and various endurance racing championships, Grosjean was unable to finish out that 2020 F1 season and end his career on his own terms.
And then Haas came calling for a Testing of Previous Cars event at Mugello Circuit this week.
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“Five years after Bahrain; here we are, Mugello,” Grosjean stated after climbing out of the car.
“Big thanks to MoneyGram Haas F1 team. It was a special day. Of course, Gene Haas, Ayao Komatsu — they made it happen. I drove the car.
“It was a wet day but as we say with weddings, raining wedding [is] a happy wedding. So it was a rainy day, happy day. Fantastic.
“Just felt a bit rusty at first, and then everything came back. Even got to do a standing start — and guess what? My last standing start was Bahrain 2020! This time it turned out way better.
“Very grateful; very unique opportunity of getting to see some of the people that were in Australia 2016, and to get to drive the new generation of car. It was fantastic. I’m very, very grateful. There are just no words.
“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.”
Grosjean was set to depart from the Haas team following the aforementioned Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2020, but his injuries prevented him from doing do. Sadly, it also meant that Grosjean was unable to don a special helmet designed by his children, which he’d intended to wear in honor of that final event.
But this week in Mugello, Grosjean was able to give his F1 career the send-off it deserved.
This year marks the first season that Haas has been able to utilize Formula 1’s Testing Previous Cars program. The American outfit retains a small staff on a smaller budget than much of its competition, which has historically made it challenging for Haas to pull its old cars out of storage for laps that are not directly related to a Formula 1 grand prix weekend.
But the team’s recent partnership with Toyota has opened new doors that were previously closed to the team — including TPC programs. Haas recently fielded a test in Japan thanks to Toyota, and this week’s test in Mugello with Grosjean and James Hinchcliffe marks another milestone in the team’s growth.
Perhaps even more critically, though, it enabled Romain Grosjean to bid adieu to his Formula 1 career on his own terms.
Read next: 28 seconds in hell: The story behind Romain Grosjean’s 2020 Bahrain GP crash
