Romain Grosjean says family considerations will be “very high” on his mind when weighing up the possibility of an IndyCar switch for 2021.
Grosjean has touted the US-based category as a destination for next season in the wake of his lengthy stint with Haas in Formula 1 coming to an end in December.
Grosjean, who is currently based in Switzerland, has three children, all of whom are under eight years old.
“First of all I need to definitely have something done in IndyCar to decide if I’m going to decide to travel back and forth [to the USA] or completely travel there,” he said.
“I’ve got a wife and three kids and it’s not like I was a youngster that can just jump in a plane with a backpack and not look behind me. Obviously there are some considerations there.
“The pros of IndyCar is everyone pretty much has the same cars 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 a podium.
“It’s a very good championship and I think there’s more pros than cons but obviously the lifestyle and where we live and what we do with the kids and their education and their future is very high on the priority list.”
Leading IndyCar teams – most notably Penske and Ganassi – have already sorted their 2021 driver line-ups but Grosjean says this will not influence any call on heading to the series.
“Some of the teams are fully booked, but there are opportunities left,” he said.
“Looking at what we can do, how we can do it, I think there are some wish from both sides to make it happen, which is nice, and some good challenges.
“If you look at Penske or Chip Ganassi, which I guess are the two top teams, they’re fully booked, but you would not necessarily expect to land on one of those seats for the first year going to IndyCar.
“I think you need to prove you can race in that series.”
First of all, he needs to find an IndyCar team that actually wants him. I don’t think there are any…