Romain Grosjean has revealed that Mark Webber confronted him in Japan following their on-track incident which resulted in the Red Bull driver dropping to the back of the grid.
In post-race interviews, Webber branded Grosjean a ‘first-lap nutcase’ among other comments which included: “Maybe we should have two different starts, one for him, one for us,” adding, “I hoped for his sake that someone hit him and pushed him into me, but the guys told me it was all him.”
Grosjean, who has been involved in several first-lap incidents including one in Belgium which earnt him a one-race ban, took the opportunity to apologise for ruining the Australian’s race.
“Ever since I came back in Singapore my priority has been to be very cautious at the start,” said Grosjean.
“Turns one and two are very quick corners and I was focused on watching Sergio [Perez] on my left to make sure there was no contact with him,” he explained. “I held my line and made sure not to move from it, but there was quite a big speed difference between me and Mark [Webber] as I came into the second corner which caught me by surprise and we collided. It was a stupid mistake.
“He came to see me after the race and was obviously not happy, but I apologised and we have to move on,” he added.
“We’ll sit down and look at things again before the next race to see what we can do to improve these situations. I’m sorry for Mark and also the team. This is a difficult situation and not one I want to be in; I’m focused on doing all I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
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