Romain Grosjean has confirmed that an outing with the Mercedes Formula 1 team is still on the cards, although accepts it’s “all my fault” that it is yet to happen.
The Frenchman’s extensive career in the series was brought to an early end when he found himself in a fireball accident on the opening lap of the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.
While Grosjean was set to depart Haas at the end of that season, the incident sidelined him for the final two races after escaping the wreckage with burns to his hands.
The episode denied him a chance to bid farewell to his Haas F1 team on track, but Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff offered him an outing in a Silver Arrows car.
Having completed a seat fitting and simulator day at Mercedes’ factory, Grosjean was set to pilot Lewis Hamilton’s championship-winning W10 for a series of demonstration laps at the 2021 French Grand Prix before carrying out a specially-organised test in the marque’s 2019 challenger the following week.
However, the 2021 French Grand Prix was shifted a week earlier following the cancellation of the Canadian Grand Prix and the postponement of the Turkish Grand Prix, causing a clash with his IndyCar duties while travel restrictions limited a rescheduling.
Now, three years on from his accident, Grosjean has yet to get behind the wheel of a Mercedes F1 car, but the nine-time podium sitter’s intent has not waned.
Asked if he was still interested in the opportunity by GP Racing, Grosjean replied: “Yes, absolutely. We haven’t found the time yet – and yes, it’s all my fault.
“It’s not easy though – I’m looking at 30 race weekends next year. You guys complain about 24 in F1 and I have 18 in IndyCar, seven in endurance and five in F1 with Canal+ [as a broadcaster]. So it’s not easy to add a test.”
Alongside his full-time drive in IndyCar with Juncos Hollinger Racing, the Frenchman will additionally compete for Iron Lynx’s Lamborghini LMDh programme at select IMSA events.
Currently, F1 regulations only permit teams to run machinery at least two years old outside of an official race weekend for private testing.
The 37-year-old has now admitted that he has been partly putting off the test in the hopes of getting a taste for the sport’s current generation of ground effect machinery.
“Also, very selfishly, I’m trying to delay it to the point where I can actually test a new generation of cars,” Grosjean confided.
“But yeah, I’m still keen to do it and whenever I see Toto he always confirms that it’s going to happen. Yes, it would be very cool to get back in an F1 car.”
