Grosjean to race in IndyCar in 2021
After recovering from his nasty crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean is set to continue his racing career in 2021, switching from Formula 1 to IndyCar.
The Swiss-born French driver sustained a horrific crash at the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix that saw his car split in half. The 34-year-old was able to escape from the huge flames, and has suffered ‘only’ minor burns which was surprising given the severity of the crash. Grosjean has almost fully recovered since and will race 13 road course events in the 2021 IndyCar Series.
He will contest in the US-based for the 2021 season, racing for the Dale Coyne Racing. He has decided to only race on the road courses, meaning that he will not participate at the famous Indy 500 race.
Commenting on his new endeavour in motorsport, Grosjean said: "I'm super happy and delighted. It's going to be a nice challenge and a nice chapter for my next career path."
"I got in contact with Dale Coyne before the Bahrain incident, I think… maybe a couple of weeks before Imola and we got on very nicely, and he made us an offer. I was going to do the full championship but then, obviously, Bahrain happened.
“For a moment I thought I was dead, in Bahrain, and being a father of three kids I need to be sensible in my decisions, in my choices in the future and at the minute I don't feel comfortable… for my kids and my wife, to race ovals – at least the speedways,” he said.
2020 was a tough year for the French driver as he only scored in a single race when he finished ninth at the Eifel Grand Prix. He last stood on the podium at the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix where he ended up third, driving for Lotus. During his F1 career that stretched over 179 starts, he has scored a total of 10 podiums. Grosjean has admitted that he is missing the feeling of being able to fight for the top position over the past seasons.
"One thing I've learned with my accident is that life is short, and I want to have the choice to say no to some things, and if that's being in Formula 1 to barely go out of Q1 once or twice a year, I think that chapter is closed for me and I would much rather look at other places where I can go race and potentially try to win races," he added.
