Haas F1's Romain Grosjean Weighs Pros and Cons of IndyCar as Part of 2021 Job Search

From Autoweek

• Romain Grosjean's Formula 1 career began in 2009, and he's been told he won't be coming back to the Haas F1 Team in 2021.

• Grosjean in the past has spoke of a fear of ovals, but now he seems more receptive to giving IndyCar a try.

• The 34-year-old driver hopes to have his future plans ironed out in the coming days.

As Romain Grosjean's decade-long run in Formula 1 winds down, the current Haas F1 Team driver is doing what any good job-seeker might be doing these days.

Grosjean is weighing his options by making a good, old-fashioned list of pros and cons with each potential career move. The 34-year-old Frenchman is currently exploring a possible career move to the United States and into the NTT IndyCar Series.

The balancing act includes family, travel and even a fear--or at least a serious respect—of racing on ovals that is a part of the IndyCar experience. The weight put on each item on the ledger is different today than it was in 2009 when a much younger Grosjean was embarking on an F1 career.

"I've got a wife and three kids, and it's not like I was a youngster that could just jump in a plane with a backpack and not look behind me," Grosjean said in Istanbul ahead of Sunday's F1 Turkish Grand Prix. "So obviously there are some considerations there."

Grosjean admits that he has yet to secure a ride for 2021 in IndyCar. That hasn't stopped him from doing a little daydreaming of what a next career act might look like.

"First of all, I need to definitely have something done in IndyCar to decide if I'm going to travel back and forth or completely go there," he said. "The pros of IndyCar, everyone pretty much has got the same car, apart from the dampers and two types of engines. The races are pretty fun. There's good opportunities to win the race or to be on the podium."

Grosjean has only found the way to an F1 podium 10 times in 177 career starts. His last walk up those stairs to spray the Champagne came with Lotus in 2015—the year before he signed on to be the No. 1 driver at Haas.