Romain Grosjean issues apology after controversial Zak Brown, Oscar Piastri claim

Former Lotus and Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean has apologised to Zak Brown after “misunderstanding” the McLaren chief executive’s comments about Oscar Piastri at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Grosjean was in attendance at the Madring circuit as a pundit, working for French television station Canal+ as well as appearing on Formula 1’s in-house channel F1 TV.

Zak Brown receives apology from Romain Grosjean after Oscar Piastri claim

The former Formula 1 driver was on screen during an F1 TV interview with Brown following Saturday’s qualifying session in the Spanish capital as Lando Norris took pole position.

Piastri qualified four tenths slower than his McLaren teammate in seventh place.

Asked to explain what Piastri is missing compared to Norris in qualifying conditions, Brown said: “I think you’ve got Lando on his A-plus game, so I don’t think there was anything left lap-time-wise there and so he found that.

“Oscar has been right there with him all weekend and just didn’t get that same extra [performance] that lap.

“We’ll continue to look at it. He’ll look at the data and probably do what we all did and go: ‘Wow, what a lap!”

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Recalling the conversation during his commentary of the race with Canal+ 24 hours later, Grosjean claimed that Brown had taken a chainsaw to Piastri’s performance during his F1 TV interview.

He went on to claim that when asked about the difference between Norris and Piastri, Brown had said that Norris is a world champion and a better driver than Piastri.

In a post to social media on Sunday evening, Grosjean issued an apology and acknowledged that he had misinterpreted Brown’s comments.

He wrote: “Today, I made a comment on Canal Plus F1 regarding Zak Brown’s comments about Oscar Piastri during an interview yesterday on F1 TV, which I was part of.

“I completely misunderstood his words and want to apologise for that.

“I know how important it is to Zak and the entire McLaren team to respect their drivers and treat them fairly and equally.

“McLaren had the fastest car today and were unlucky with the VSC.

“I’m sure both Lando and Oscar will have another chance to fight for the win in Baku.”

Norris and McLaren were wrong-footed by a virtual safety car while leading the Spanish Grand Prix, with the reigning world champion dropping to third at the chequered flag as Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli took victory.

Piastri, who remains without a win since last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, finished eighth, trailing Norris by 90 seconds at the finish in Madrid.

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