Ex-F1 star Romain Grosjean in heated confrontation

Romain Grosjean puts his jacket on in a motor garage — Photo: © IMAGO

Racing News

Ex-F1 star Romain Grosjean in heated confrontation - 'He fancied a bit of a fist fight'

Romain Grosjean now races in IndyCar

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 10 May 2026 14:12 Updated: 14:48

Make us your Google favorite

Former F1 star Romain Grosjean was caught charging towards a rival driver following his participation in an IndyCar race.

Grosjean - who raced in F1 full-time between 2012-2020 - now races full-time for Dale Coyne Racing in the IndyCar championship, a series in which he is still yet to get his first victory.

At the Sonsio Grand Prix this weekend, the Frenchman finished down in 21st - last of the remaining runners. His Haas F1 successor Mick Schumacher was just ahead of him in 20th.

Article continues under video

But 40-year-old Grosjean still appears to have plenty of fight left in him. Following an incident with the No.66 of Marcus Armstrong, Grosjean was left with suspension damage very early on in the race.

Armstrong went off the track before rejoining and crashing into another car who had gone way off track, with Grosjean then caught in the middle and unable to get out of the way.

Following the race, Grosjean was not happy with Armstrong's role in the incident, storming up to his Meyer Shank Racing garage and having to be held back by team members. Grosjean can be heard in the video saying 'I was going to say I want to punch you’.

After the incident, Armstrong told media: "I don't know, he fancied a bit of a fist fight, actually, a bit of UFC, a bit of MMA, something I'm not accustomed to.

"But hey, you know what? I've got a 350-pound fueler who was, like, right behind me, so fair play to Romain, he's got some balls for trying to attack me with him behind me."

F1 HEADLINES: Hamilton tipped for bombshell announcement, Horner causes uproar

Grosjean was just 'joking'

Grosjean calmed down by the end of the altercation and was telling Armstrong that he had a lot of respect for him, also telling the '350-pound fueler' that he had never punched anybody in his life, as the team member still tried to protect Armstrong.

Afterwards, Grosjean told IndyCar reporter Marshall Pruett that it was all a big misunderstanding.

Pruett took to X to say: "Romain called to say he was simply trying to talk to Marcus and made a joke about wanting to punch him and that it was taken out of context and that’s where the misunderstanding happened."

40-year-old Grosjean now races in both IndyCar and the IMSA Sportscar Championship having left F1 in 2020 following a horror incident at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix which left him with severe burns on his hands.

F1 IndyCar Romain Grosjean Marcus Armstrong