Grosjean suffered "one of the biggest fears" of his F1 career
Grosjean suffered "one of the biggest fears" of his F1 career
Romain Grosjean has claimed he faced his greatest fear in motorsport as he waited to be struck from behind during the horrific safety car restart collision.
The Haas driver found himself caught in the middle of the chaos as team-mate Kevin Magnussen, Carlos Sainz, Nicholas Latifi and Antonio Giovinazzi all retired as a pile-up ensued.
Describing his experience of the mayhem from the cockpit, Grosjean said: “Obviously, I think I had one of the biggest fears of my career in the first restart because I saw things happening.
"I had really good momentum so I went on the left, and then I saw one Renault slowing down. I actually slowed down myself before everyone did and then I saw Kevin almost flying over me and I was afraid that behind they would hit me.
“That wasn’t a good moment."
The safety car period had been caused after a lap-one collision involving the ailing Max Verstappen, Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly, Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen and Grosjean.
Fearing his race was over, Grosjean revealed he had switched off his car and was preparing to get out before realising the damage to his VF20 was less than he had expected.
“I got badly hit in turn one or turn two," said Grosjean. "I was doing a good start and looking at how much damage we had and what the pace was. I think we had a good car in our hands.
“From switching off the car ready to retire on lap one to restarting it and going again and doing two red flags, three restarts, it was quite interesting."
Grosjean crossed the line last of the 12 cars to finish, leaving him as one of only three drivers still without a point for this season alongside Williams duo George Russell and Nicholas Latifi.
“At the last restart things really went well and I could overtake the two Ferraris and the Williams and [was] fighting up there, but we were missing about two seconds of performance on the car that we could measure," revealed Grosjean.
“Happy we finished the race, and we were hoping there would be only 10 cars at the end so we would be the 10th one but there were 12 so sadly we were P12.”
Before you go...
Frustrated Norris urges McLaren to get on top of "sensitive" car issues
Horner hails Albon "Mr Around-the-outside" after Mugello fightback
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
F1 stars set for THRILLING championship-winning car drive
- 57 minutes ago
Motorsport chief SLAMS F1 over Red Bull
- 1 hour ago
Former F1 boss makes SHOCKING Verstappen declaration
- 2 hours ago
Former F1 boss says Red Bull 'rethink' underway amid Horner saga
- 3 hours ago
F1 News Today: Horner investigation TOLL on Verstappen revealed as question marks arise over Hamilton Ferrari switch
- Today 05:57
Horner accuser 'angry and upset' over Red Bull SNUB as Perez bemoans lack of clarity - GPFans F1 Recap
- Yesterday 23:57
F1 Race Calendar
-
GP BAHRAIN
29 Feb - 2 Mar
Max Verstappen
-
GP SAUDI ARABIA
7 - 9 Mar
Max Verstappen
- GP AUSTRALIA 22 - 24 Mar
- GP JAPAN 5 - 7 Apr
- GP CHINA 19 - 21 Apr
- GP USA 3 - 6 May
- GP ITALY 17 - 19 May
Related news
F1 team jacket goes on sale for INCREDIBLE £1,200
F1 team principal delivers BLEAK assessment of Bearman future
F1 team boss UNSURE whether key issues are fixed
Former F1 star makes BRAVE return in Bahrain
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860