Today at 10:00
Romain Grosjean is set for a shock return to Formula 1 with Haas,
who have confirmed that its former driver will complete a test.
Grosjean spent five seasons racing for Haas across 2016-2020,
although was unable to depart the squad under normal
circumstances. His final race in F1 was the 2020 Bahrain Grand
Prix, where the Frenchman suffered his terrifying 67G fireball
accident which saw his car pierce through a metal barrier.
Injuries from that crash ruled him out of the season finale that
year, halting the driver from a proper farewell. Now, five years
on, Grosjean is set to return to the cockpit of a Haas F1 car. The
American squad will field Grosjean in a Testing of Previous Cars
(TPC test) on September 26 (this Friday) at Mugello. Grosjean, who
has competed in IndyCar and endurance racing since his Haas exit,
will be driving Haas' 2023 F1 car – the VF-23. It will be
Grosjean's first experience of the current F1 regulations, while he
will use a helmet which had been designed by his children for the
2020 season finale that he was unable to compete in. "I'm
incredibly grateful to Gene Haas and to Ayao Komatsu for inviting
me to participate in the TPC at Mugello," said Grosjean. "To say
I'm excited to get back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car would
naturally be an understatement. "I really can't believe it's been
almost five years, but to come back and have this outing with my
old team is truly something special. "I'm excited to see everyone,
I'm sure we'll spend a bit of time reminiscing about the old days,
but I'm also keen to be of use regarding the trackside agenda with
the VF-23 – it's great the team now has the TPC program as part of
its on-going development. "Finally, my kids had designed my helmet
for what was meant to be my final grand prix in Abu Dhabi back in
2020 – I'm at last going to be able to give it a go in a Formula 1
car on Friday." Grosjean's Mugello crew For the TPC test, Grosjean
will be reunited with several team personnel who worked on his side
of the garage during his time with Haas. Team principal Ayao
Komtasu will act as Grosjean's race engineer having held that role
for the 39-year-old at Lotus, with Dominic Haines – the driver's
race engineer in 2019 and 2020 – also being on-site to oversee the
test. Ian Staniforth, Grosjean's long-serving number one race
mechanic, will also be at the test in his current role of race team
support chief mechanic. "I'm absolutely thrilled to be welcoming
Romain Grosjean back into a Formula 1 car for the first time in
five years but especially proud he's returning in one of our cars –
it's only fitting," said Komatsu. "Romain and I have worked
together throughout his entire Formula 1 career so this test at
Mugello is of particular significance to us both. "I'm delighted
he embraced the opportunity to come and get back behind the wheel
with us, a day that's going to be made extra special by having so
many members of the original crew back together to witness it. "It
should be a fun day and knowing Romain as I do, I know he'll want
to give it his all as usual – I'd expect nothing less, not least as
we've talked about making this happen for a long time now."
Ex-IndyCar driver and current F1TV pundit James Hinchcliffe will
also be driving in the test for his F1 debut, as part of a feature
for the official F1 broadcast.
