Former F1 Driver Romain Grosjean Still Making Peace With Ovals, Indy 500

Former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean didn’t even care to mention F1’s Bahrain Grand Prix during Media Day for the Indianapolis 500 on Thursday.

Grosjean never even alluded to the horrific fire that engulfed him after his race car experienced an impact so powerful that it broke in two. The melted remains of the car were embedded into a guard wall. He didn’t repeat his remarks from that November 2020 moment after extraordinarily escaping the inferno, that he “really saw death coming.”

He simply called it” something that was pretty significant in my life and in my family's and friends' lives.”

Within six months he was racing in the NTT IndyCar Series but not on oval courses. Now that he has given himself the green light to compete on ovals, they haven’t been kind to him, at least not at Indianapolis. In his previous two Indianapolis 500s, he has crashed out and finished 31st and then 30th in the field of 33. He’s hoping this weekend will reward his courage to try once again the biggest of them at 2.5 miles a lap.

“I came here after something that was pretty significant in my life and in my family's and friends' lives. The first year not doing ovals was a mark of respect to my family because ovals are dangerous,” Grosjean said. “You can put it anywhere you want to put it, [but] when you drive a car 230 miles an hour next to a wall—I have had two impacts here in the last two years. We do as much as we can in motorsports for safety, but they're dangerous, definitely on the high end out of that.

“Out of respect, I think the first year was the right decision not to do them. As a competitor, I want to do them. I want to be here,” he said.

Grosjean expressed frustration that in “qualifying we didn't have the speed” with “nothing you can do about [it] as a driver—which is very, very annoying. Qualifying is all an engineering race.” However, he said Thursday that lately “it felt like in traffic the car has come alive over the last couple sessions, and I feel good. I'm very fortunate to be racing the Indy 500.”

Moreover, Kyle Larson has nothing on him. Grosjean has his own double. He said, “In a month's time, I'll be in Le Mans 24 Hours with Lamborghini in the Hypercar. On the résumé of a driver, that's pretty bad-ass.”