Romain Grosjean has added more about his relation with George Russell after Imola incident as he reveals he was the only to text him on his F1 exit.
Fans quickly quipped it to be a Grosjean moment when they saw Williams’ Russell crash out behind the safety car during F1 Emilia Romagna GP at Imola. It was indeed similar to how the Haas racer did so in Baku in 2018, which generated the meme ‘Ericsson hit me’.
For Russell, it was a heartbreaking moment as he sat at the side of the track frustratingly. Post-race, he accepted blame for being over-aggressive, as the likes of Grosjean, Lewis Hamilton and David Coulthard shared messages in support of the British F1 racer.
Talking about it, Grosjean added on his relation with Russell, stating that the youngster is not only a fantastic racer but a good human being – revealing that he was the only one to send him a message when Haas announced that they will not retain the Frenchman.
“I’ve had a good relationship with George,” said Grosjean. “When the announcement was made that I wasn’t going to be with the team next season, he was the first and only one to send me a WhatsApp message. That really shows that he’s a great guy.
“I know how painful it is to crash under a safety car period – especially when it’s going to be your first point of the season. I believe it was the same for me at Baku in 2018. In the lower part of the field, you really need to work the tyres a lot.
“I’ve said it many times, if I was doing Baku again, I’d probably do the same thing as I did three seasons ago. George didn’t do anything crazy, but he just lost the car. It was a tough
day for him, but he’ll have plenty more (good days) to come,” summed up Grosjean.
Looking at his own future, the Frenchman only has four F1 races to go in his career – as it looks unlikely that he will find a seat in near future. He is already looking at options, whether it is Formula E and or WEC. Despite saying no to IndyCar initially, he reckons if there is an option, he will take it rather than drop it all-together.
Here’s news on Williams facing COVID-19 cases
Here’s George Russell on getting supportive messages after Imola