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Heavily criticized Grosjean: 'He lives up to his reputation from Europe'

2 May 2022 at 12:51
Last update 2 May 2022 at 13:45
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  • GPblog.com

Romain Grosjean was known in Formula 1 as a wild driver. The end of his F1 career was also a particularly heavy crash in Bahrain that narrowly ended well for the Frenchman. The former F1 driver is not loved by his IndyCar rivals either.

Grosjean not liked in IndyCar

In Formula 1, Grosjean was involved in more than one crash. Sometimes he drove himself off the track, sometimes he took others with him. His rivals were not happy about that, of course, but his reputation still haunts him in America, and there they are not at all fond of the Frenchman. During the IndyCar race at the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama things got tough again.

On lap fifteen, Grosjean got into an altercation with his Andretti Autosport teammate Colton Herta. Racer.com notes that Herta disapproved of Grosjean's defensive maneuvers. The American does still bring some understanding somewhere for the fact that his colleague is racing a little harder. Rival Graham Rahal is not so soft on Grosjean. On lap 87, the two touched and what Rahal had to say was not mild. On IndyCar Radio he said, "It was fun racing with a lot of drivers, but one guy in particular was not so clean." Rahal implies Grosjean.

Grosjean no longer welcome

"We need to sit down for a little conversation and discuss what in hell is happening here. I think we should all get together, because I'm not the only driver who has this problem." Rahal seems to be getting very worked up and makes some pithy statements, "I'm not going to be nice anymore. This guy has overstayed his welcome." Grosjean himself reacted resignedly to the incident, thinking it was part of hard racing.

But Rahal continued his account, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks. This is actually in line with what his reputation was in Europe and we are learning that reputation here very quickly." Racing journalists are watching tensely for Rahal's rather vehement statements. Some say Rahal's remarks are an example of a tradition of xenophobia that prevails in the IndyCar series.