Romain Grosjean has confirmed that he will be racing in IndyCar this season for the Dale Coyne Racing team, and admits he is still hoping for a Mercedes invitation to test their F1 car.
Grosjean finished his F1 career two races earlier than planned after a terrifying accident in the first race in Bahrain in which he barely managed to escape the burning Haas stuck in metal barriers, but thanks to the safety of modern F1 cars the Frenchman suffered only minor injuries.
But Grosjean has no plans to stop racing and has secured a contract at IndyCar where he hopes to fight again for podiums and victories while in Formula 1 with Haas he could not even score points regularly.
“I’m very excited about this opportunity to race in the U.S. in the IndyCar series,” Grosjean said.
“I had different options and IndyCar was definitely my favorite of them even though I’m not ready for oval tracks yet.”
“As a father of three kids I have to be reasonable in my decisions and choices for the future, and at this point I don’t feel comfortable, because of my children and wife, racing on the ovals.”
“IndyCar has a much more even competition than the racing series I’m used to in my career. It’s going to be exciting to fight for podiums and victories again.”
“My left hand is still healing, but I will soon be ready to get back in the race car and start the next chapter in my career.”
Grosjean discovered that the accident in Bahrain had taught him that life was short.
“One thing I learned from that accident is that life is short,” Grosjean said.
“I want to have a choice to say no to some things. If it’s Formula 1 where I’ve barely passed Q1 once or twice a year, then that chapter is closed to me and I’d look a lot better in other places where I could race and potentially win. ”
Grosjean is still hoping for a Mercedes call
In order not to end his F1 career with an accident in Bahrain, Grosjean expressed a desire for a private test and Mercedes offered him a test in one of its old F1 cars unless another team offered him something similar.
Grosjean admits that he has not yet forgotten about that wish and hopes that the Mercedes offer will be realized.
“I’d still really like to jump into a Mercedes F1 car, that’s for sure,” he said.
“It’s an offer you can’t refuse, to understand that car and how it works.”
“At the moment I think they’re working full steam ahead on a new car for the new season so I’m not going to call Toto now, but at some point he can expect a call in which I’ll ask him about it.”
“That offer really touched me in a good way. I was surprised it happened so naturally and of course I wanted to do it.”
