Romain Grosjean is to drive a Formula 1 car for the first time since his horror crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, in a special reunion with Haas.
The Frenchman infamously hit the barriers on the opening lap of the race in Sakhir, and stopped having broken through them, leaving his Haas engulfed in flames.
Grosjean courageously summoned the strength to extracate himself from the car, and was treated subsequently for extensive burns on his hands.
With Haas having dispensed of his services for 2021, it turned out to be the 179th and final time Grosjean would contest a Grand Prix.
But the American squad has given Grosjean an emotional one-off return to the sport, giving him the reins of his VF-23 in a Testing of Previous car [TPC] test at Mugello.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Gene Haas and to Ayao Komatsu for inviting me to participate in the TPC at Mugello,” the 39-year-old 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.
“I’m excited to see everyone, I’m sure we’ll spend a bit of time reminiscing about the old days, but I’m also keen to be of use regarding the trackside agenda with the VF-23 – it’s great the team now has the TPC program as part of its on-going development.
“Finally, 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.”
Komatsu ‘thrilled’ to hand Grosjean Haas test
Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu was part of the team at the time of Grosjean’s crash, and also served as race engineer to him at Lotus, and the Japanese conveyed his excitement at the one-off opportunity to work with him again.
“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,” said Komatsu.
“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.”
Grosjean spent four seasons in IndyCar, joining the series immediately after his recovery, and acted as PREMA reserve driver last year, as well as currently competing for Lamborghini in IMSA.
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