Romain Grosjean: "I will take the knee" in stand against racism

Formula 1

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Grosjean: "I will take the knee" in stand against racism

GPDA director claims it would be "a sportsman's move"

Sam Hall

Friday 3 July 2020 18:13 Updated: 19:20

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Haas driver and Formula 1's Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Romain Grosjean has confirmed he will 'take a knee' ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.

As sport has returned across the world, it has become a common sight to see players, staff and officials do so, with the action symbolic of the fight against racism.

On Thursday, Lewis Hamilton, the leading voice within F1 for equality, said he was still undecided as to whether he would take aknee . After careful study, Grosjean has become the first driver to confirm he will make the gesture.

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"In all fairness, Alex Wurz [GPDA president] has completely destroyed my WhatsApp by sending me messages that last ten minutes over the last two weeks," Grosjean told a media session on Friday including GPFans.

"The GPDA, we have been very much involved in it and finding out what is the best way of showing our support as 100 per cent of the members are against racism and want the end of racism.

"Obviously, you need to be careful in what you do and what you say because there is a lot of political involvement as well in some of the messages.

"Personally, I wasn't a big fan of taking the knee initially, but then I read more about it and I think now it's a sportsman's move to show that you are against racism, and it's not linked to any political movement.

"Personally, I will take the knee."

Although Grosjean has never been a victim of racism himself, he feels it is important for the sport to make a public display of support for the BAME community.

He added: "Racism shouldn't exist. I'm lucky I didn't have problems. I've got a big nose, but people can joke about it.

"But yes, I will show my support and I think it's important that sports like Formula 1, global sports like Formula 1 is showing some support and creating ideas like 'we race as one', which is great for the diversity of the sport.

"Without diversity, it would be boring, and a boring world wouldn't be nice to live in."

On track, Grosjean missed almost the entirety of the first practice session due to his car sustaining a brake problem, recovering in FP2 to finish P16, one place behind team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

"I had a brake leak in the morning, so I didn't do any laps, just an installation at the end which was a good job from the guys to make sure that everything was working well for the afternoon," said Grosjean.

"In the afternoon, the first few laps were just getting back into the rhythm and seeing the speed.

"Obviously, jumping straight from the hard to the soft tyres for the qualifying sim was not easy, and I left a few tenths out there easily because the lap was not great.

"We went to high fuel and I managed to get some information, so we are where we were when we left Barcelona."

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