Romain Grosjean will return to a Formula 1 cockpit for the first time since his fiery crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix in a test on Friday.
The Franco-Swiss driver will take part in a Testing of Previous Car (TPC) run for former team Haas at Mugello, driving the 2023 VF-23. Mugello held a sole Formula 1 grand prix, the Tuscan Grand Prix, during the COVID-affected 2020 season, with Grosjean finishing 12th for Haas in that race.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Gene Haas and to Ayao Komatsu for inviting me to participate in the TPC at Mugello,” said Grosjean. “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.”
Many of Haas’ heritage division – which runs Haas’ TPC program – was part of Grosjean’s crew during his time driving for Haas, including Dominc Haines, who will oversee the day and was previously Grosjean’s race engineer in 2019 and ’20. Grosjean’s former No. 1 race mechanic Ian Staniforth will also be there in his current capacity as race team support chief, while current Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu was trackside engineering director during Grosjean’s stint at Haas and was his race engineer at Lotus where the pair scored 10 podiums together.
“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’s return behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car is a long time coming. He was previously set to test Mercedes’ 2020 Mercedes-AMG W10 EQ Power+ – the car that won the race where Grosjean had his accident – around the 2021 French Grand Prix, and even had a seat fitting, but the run didn’t go ahead. Since leaving F1 following his crash, Grosjean has competed in 64 NTT IndyCar series races for Dale Coyne Racing, Andretti Global, and Juncos Hollinger Racing, achieving six podium finishes. He has also been a part of Lamborghini’s factory driver lineup, racing nine times in the IMSA SportsCar series’s GTD Pro and GTP classes since 2023.
As well as Grosjean, six-time IndyCar race winner and 2016 Indianapolis 500 polesitter James Hinchcliffe will also be making his F1 bow, driving the VF-23 as well, as part of a feature for F1 TV that will air during the United States Grand Prix weekend.
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