Romain Grosjean will not be racing in F1 Abu Dhabi GP after consulting with the doctors as they feel it will be a huge risk for the rest of his career.
After a major fire incident in F1 Bahrain GP, Grosjean was certain to miss this weekend’s Sakhir GP, where Pietro Fittipaldi took his place alongside Kevin Magnussen. While the Frenchman relayed his story of survival, he was pushing on for a return still.
As Abu Dhabi GP was to be his last-ever F1 race, Grosjean wanted to leave the sport on a high and was pushing for a return. While his right hand seemed good enough by his own admission, his left had second degree burns, which will naturally take time to heal.
As a result, Grosjean has decided against racing in Abu Dhabi GP, where Fittipaldi will continue to drive his car. This will end the Frenchman’s F1 career for now as he awaits to decide on his future course. He wishes for a special test to cap off his career.
Having said that in multiple interviews, Mercedes chief Toto Wolff stated that he will be happy to arrange a F1 test for Grosjean whenever he is ready to drive. Aside that, the Frenchman could still remain in the sport being a reserve or a development driver.
“It is with great sadness that I will not be able to do my final race in Abu Dhabi and be with the team there,” said Grosjean. “We’ve tried as much as we could with the doctor to recover and to repair my hand, but the risk of racing is too big for my recovery and my health. So, the decision was made that I’m not going to race.
“It’s one of the hardest decisions of my life, but it’s obviously one of the wisest. I will miss the team, but I will be supporting them as ever.” At the same time, team boss Guenther Steiner added: “It is naturally very sorry that Romain will miss what was going to be his final race with Haas F1 Team.
“But we are all in agreement that he has to take the best course of action regarding his treatment and recovery from last Sunday’s incident. Romain has shown exceptional bravery and amazing spirit over the last few days – we know how badly he wanted to be able to return to the cockpit of the VF-20 in Abu Dhabi.
“And we all would have loved him to have been there too. Romain believed in our Formula 1 project at the very start, he committed to drive for us before we’d even built a car. There is no doubting the determination and sheer effort he has put into helping us to achieve what we have as a young team in Formula 1.
“We will forever be grateful for that belief and commitment. It is those qualities, his drive and ambition, that I’m sure will aid him on his recovery. On behalf of Gene Haas and myself, together with the whole Haas F1 Team operation, we wish Romain well and a return to full health,” summed up Steiner.
Here’s the video update from Romain Grosjean:
Update for you ❤#r8g pic.twitter.com/dBLE7ZSzcA
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) December 6, 2020
Here’s the whole story from Romain Grosjean