Romain Grosjean will return to a Formula 1 car on Friday, driving for his former team, Haas, during the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) session at Mugello.
This will be his first time behind the wheel of an F1 car since his horrifying crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Grosjean was involved in a crash against the guardrail barrier at a speed of almost 200k/h. The impact of the crash, measured at 67G, split the car he was in in two, as flames engulfed the car.
But despite spending 27 seconds in the car, he managed to come out with nothing but burns on the back of his hands. The crash signalled the end of his 10-year F1 career, as he was unable to secure a team for the next season before the Bahrain race.
The event will see Grosjean driving the 2023-spec Haas VF-23 at Mugello, a venue where he raced during the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, finishing 12th.
His return includes long-time colleagues from his original Haas crew, such as team principal Ayao Komatsu, who was his race engineer during their time at Lotus and followed him to Haas.
Komatsu will return as his race engineer for this session. Dominic Haines, Grosjean’s race engineer from 2019 to 2020, now serves as Heritage Chief Engineer and will also be present.
Ian Staniforth, Grosjean’s no.1 race mechanic during his previous stint with Haas, will oversee operations as Race Team Support Chief Mechanic at Mugello.
Grosjean spoke with excitement about his return: “I’m incredibly grateful to Gene Haas and to Ayao Komatsu for inviting me to participate in the TPC at Mugello.
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.”
For the testing, he will run with a helmet designed by his children, which was meant for his final grand prix in Abu Dhabi in 2020. He noted, “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.”
