Romain Grosjean will drive a Formula 1 car for the first time this week since his fiery crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, as a part of a special test with former team Haas.
Grosjean remarkably escaped with only minor burns on his hands after being stuck inside a fireball after violently crashing his Haas car into a barrier at the start of the pandemic-era race.
The Frenchman had already been replaced for the following season by Haas and his injuries ruled him out of the 2020 finale, denying him the chance of a farewell.
He will now get a chance to link up with the team again, with a test on Friday of the team’s VF-23, the car it used to compete in the 2023 Formula 1 season, at Italy’s Mugello circuit.
Grosjean’s long-time race engineer Ayao Komatsu is now Haas team principal — as a nod to their previous working relationship, Komatsu will spend the test working in his previous role.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Gene Haas and to Ayao Komatsu for inviting me to participate in the TPC at Mugello,” Grosjean said. “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.”
He added: “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 was the driver first recruited by owner Gene Haas and was part of the team’s original driver line up for its debut season in 2016. Komatsu said it was right to give him the opportunity to come back.
“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,” he said.
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“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.”
Haas is also running six-time IndyCar winner and former Indy 500 polesitter James Hinchcliffe and current F1 TV pundit as part of the TPC test.
It will be Hinchcliffe’s first taste of driving a Formula 1 car.
The TPC rule allows teams to run cars from the previous two to four seasons, with a cap of 20 total days per year and 1,000km limit for current F1 drivers across a maximum of four of those days, which opens up opportunities for non-drivers to be given time behind the wheel.
The sessions take place on FIA-approved circuits like Mugello.
