Romain Grosjean has regained his “First Lap Nutcase” nickname after another unacceptably wild race at the British Grand Prix, this time the Haas driver clipped his own teammate on the opening lap and then later pranged into the Renault of Carlos Sainz for yet another DNF.
These were a couple more on a long list of incidents this season – including that Turn 2 spin at Barcelona and that rookie mistake in Baku warming his tyres and blaming the ‘ghost’ of Marcus Ericsson – which the Frenchman rarely accepts responsibility for and hence never learns.
Grosjean is an interesting story, rising through the ranks when France was desperate to revive a pipeline of drivers into Formula 1. The grid in 2004 was devoid of Frenchmen for the first time in decades as the stream of talent and backing of young drivers had run dry in the country.
Step up the young Switzerland-born driver with a Swiss father and French mother. Incredibly quick, good image and charismatic the youngster ticked all the boxes. Getting him a French licence was no problem so he could wear the Tricolor on his belt.
Hence began the fast track of Grosjean to Formula 1 through Renault and a certain Flavio Briatore via the GP2 Series.
At the time Renault were on a high with Fernando Alonso F1 world champion in 2005 and 2006, the French manufacturer also very involved in the junior series through Formula Renault and of course the GP2 Series.
Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone were the movers and shakers behind the formation of GP2, with Briatore securing the rights to supply Mecachrome developed and maintained Renault engines to the new F1 feeder series.
Once established it became known that Renault, GP2 and Briatore were keen to find a French driver to promote into Formula 1 in the short-term
Looking around it was clear that Grosjean was something special, front-runner or champion in most the junior series he entered including the 2007 Euro Formula 3 title.
In 2008 he made a big impact in the GP2 Asia Series, winning the title that year at which point I came into contact with him and GP2 in my role as Dubai Autodrome communications manager.
The cars were based at our circuit for the duration of the series with four rounds scheduled at the venue, so I was exposed to how things worked.
At the time, I also befriended a driver and his father who needed a lift to their hotel in town late into evenings on race weekends.
I obliged as I closed my media centre when the last scribbler or photographer departed and the pair were there as late as I was so they grabbed a ride and we chatted at length. BTW the driver is a big deal these days.
During these rides and over a beer, father and son opened up and gave me the lowdown on the state of play in GP2 which turns out was a battlefield of intrigue and politics with Flavio pulling the strings.
In a nutshell GP2 (like Formula 2 today) is a one make series with ‘equal’ engines etcetera.
But anyone who knows about racing is aware that not all engines are as equal (as they say) and it is well known that during dyno tests for performance, reliability etc engine builders obtain data which allows them to identify which engine unit is ‘more equal than the other’ – nudge, nudge wink, wink say no more…
Having that knowledge makes the engine supplier extremely powerful for obvious reasons. To cut a long story short, the driver and his father confirmed that it was no secret that Romain was getting preferential treatment and everyone on the grid knew it but nothing could be done or said about it because of intricate alliances between drivers, teams, bosses and organisers et al.
Wild, arrogant, irresponsible, sore loser, malicious, dirty – Romain the ‘chosen’ shooting star was called a lot of things by his rivals in those days, but none ever denied that the kid had incredible raw speed when he connected all the dots. Probably the quickest of that generation of capable drivers.
Furthermore, I also learnt at the time in the feeder series you were either a Flavio driver or a Red Bull driver, of course the Flav-lads got the good goodies. As a Renault backed Flav-lad Romain had very, very good kit at his disposal.
Like most French tales there was also talk at the time of the handsome and energetic youngster’s dalliances with a GP2 Series staff member which was asked of me by a tenacious Gulf News reporter doing the motorsport beat.
As comms guy at the Autodrome, I questioned the rumours and was advised to shut it, no mention and passed on the message to the reporter. As instructed, I shut it but these things you don’t forget.
Meanwhile in the big league, over at Renault with Flav at the helm they were giddy from the 05-06 back-to-back F1 titles with Alonso but soon performances went south.
With the Spaniard frustrated, victories unlikely and Renault watching intently Flav was desperate so his gang engineered the infamous Crashgate at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, which was exposed a year later – a desperate effort to buy time and pacify the mounting critics.
Almost a year later, shortly before Flav and his cronies were bust for the Crashgate crime, Nelson Piquet junior was under fire as Alonso’s teammate, with pressure on Flav to promote Grosjean to the Renault race seat, so to their own downfall they axed the Brazilian.
Young, dumb and the rest… it soon showed that Romain was not ready for the step up to Formula 1 as many, including his rivals, had predicted.
History shows that Grosjean qualified 14th for his F1 debut at the 2009 European Grand Prix in Valencia (Flav’s circuit) and was only three tenths down on Alonso.
The debutant collided with Luca Badoer on the opening lap but recovered to finish 15th. Next time out at Spa, Romain qualified 19th and collided with Jenson Button on the opening lap.
Next up the Italian Grand Prix, qualified an impressive 12th but a lap one, Turn 1 shunt after a poor start compromised his race. He recovered to finish 15th.
Then Boom! Crashgate! Exposed!
In the week after Monza, on 17 September, Patrick Pelata, Renault chief operating officer, gave the first official statement: “The [Renault F1] team believes that a mistake has been made, and punishment must follow. Flavio Briatore considered himself to be morally responsible and resigned.”
A week later with Renault’s F1 project in disarray, the bright lights of Singapore added insult to injury for the French team when their bright young thing crashed his car in the eaxct same spot Piquet had been ordered to do a year earlier.
It was a glaring mistake which he acknowledged when he reported meekly over the radio: “Sorry guys, I lost the car in turn 17.”
It was a bitter pill for Renault to swallow as live TV beamed to millions the image of Romain’s car crunched into that infamous wall for what seemed like ages, as commentators rambled on about Crashgate, capped by the cruel irony of what was playing out in front of us. Talk about Karma!
At the end of 2009, the penny finally dropped at Renault: Romain was not ready for the top flight.
They dropped him and FIA GT and other relatively obscure racing beckoned for the next two years before his Gravity Racing management, who kept faith in him, through Genii orchestrated the takeover of the Renault F1 project that Flav left in ruins.
Along the way, Romain duly delivered by adding the 2011 GP2 Series title to GP2 Asia title already on his CV. He was driving for DAMS at the time which has always had deep-rooted connections to the Renault works outfit.
Thus it was no surprise, considering his connections and minders, in 2012 Romain was back on the F1 grid at the 2012 Australian Grand Prix with Lotus powered by Renault alongside Kimi Raikkonen who was back from destroying trees.
In qualifying for that race Romain popped an impressive lap to claim third while the Iceman’s best was only good for 18th.
No denying, indeed Grosjean had very impressive raw speed as often related by his rivals and peers, but on race day he had a torrid opening lap, then on lap two he crashed into Pastor Maldonado and out of the race. Raikkonen survived and finished seventh in the other Lotus.
A week later in Malaysia, the Frenchman started 7th, made a good start and was third into Turn 1, then in Turn 4 the Lotus made contact with Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes, both spun out. Grosjean resumed way behind before spinning again and beaching it on lap 4.
Finally, at the next race in China, he scored points with a strong showing to finish sixth. He was third a race later in Bahrain which he followed up with a couple podiums before perpetrating one of the most spectacular F1 crashes in memory.
On the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix he ploughed through the field as they powered into the Hairpin at Spa, taking out the front runners and earning himself a one-race ban for his waywardness. Very luckily no one was injured.
Fast forwarding to now, we have a likeable and smart guy, with a lovely wife and kids, passionate about food, great sense of humour, GPDA director. In other words, he got his act together in his personal life and created the kind of space from which Sebastian Vettel operates, a family guy as opposed to a partygoer.
But all this has not translated to a calm and collected driver. Instead, we have a guy who dips his visor and the red mist sprays incessantly and most commonly on the first lap.
It is no longer a joke. These cars are almighty safe, but never say never and God-forbid he injures himself or worse takes others with him.
Honestly, Barcelona was scary and the fact that he kept his foot down – smoking the tyres and creating a cloud of smoke, rendering blind those fast approaching from behind – does not sit well with me.
Did he want someone to crash into him to justify his gaffe? Whatever the case, another first lap cock-up and a lame attempt to lay blame elsewhere for his capers.
Silverstone was a new low. First, he trashed his Haas with a silly mistake in FP1 which forced him to miss FP2 as his crew repaired the damage.
Then he seriously compromised his and his teammate’s race by clattering into Magnussen on the opening lap, thus denying the team sure and valuable points as their car was ‘Best of the Rest’ throughout the weekend.”
Deluded or dazed or confused or all three, after the race at Silverstone Romain said: “At the beginning of the race with Kevin, I think it was a mistake from both of us. It shouldn’t happen, so we need to work on that to ensure it doesn’t happen anymore.”
Romain! You crashed into him! What must Kevin work on?
Have they done tests on this guy? Like an adrenalin overdose to the brain test? Does something in his rationale switch-off in moments of intense pressure or excitement? Maybe he is concussed? Breathalyser? Dope test?
Is it just me thinking this? Should something scientific or medical be done to evaluate Romain’s mental fitness to race cars? They should ASAP.
Steiner and the whole Haas outfit have gone to great lengths (can you imagine the pain of doing so?) to avoid criticising their driver. Admirable for sure, but sustainable?
Surely Gene is adding up the cost of bent metal in the bin with “Romain Did It” tags attached. Suddenly that wad of cash that Ferrari have to spend on a race seat for their man Antonio Giovinazzi is looking more and more attractive.
The question is: do Guenther and Gene wait until the end of the season or go for broke and replace Romain with the Italian after this summer for Belgium and beyond?
Infinitely polite and remarkably patient, Haas team chief Guenther Steiner tried to explain his hapless driver’s latest failing: “I would not call it failures. It’s becoming frustration. Every time we hope that everything turns for him, but it happens again. We will certainly cope, but it’s not easy.”
“We need to score points, do the maximum in every race weekend. It’s important for us to move forward rather than standing still.”
“I support Romain and that’s my duty because I care about the success of the team. How long will it go on? I don’t know when the critical moment will come.”
“It has not yet arrived, but at some point, we must stop losing points. This is extremely important. In the first half of the season, we lost too many points due to our own mistakes – it’s unacceptable,” added Steiner… ominously?
Right now the grid is packed with very good young (real) French drivers, the Grosjean/Renault connection finally ending when he ‘defected’ to Ferrari powered Haas.
Increasingly for him, there is nowhere to hide, no more protection, just hard facts that he has not cut it in the top flight. Too many incidents not expected of one with so much experience in F1.
Untested by Esteban Guitterez during the Mexican’s tenure at the team, Romain – still blisteringly fast at times – has wilted beside current teammate Kevin Magnussen who stands and delivers for the American team while in the garage next to him the crew work overtime to repair the sister car.
Finally, the “First Lap Nutcase” moniker arose after the Frenchman tangled with no-nonsense Mark Webber during the opening lap of the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix, Romain’s Lotus sent the Red Bull spinning.
That day at Suzuka, after recovering from the Turn 1 incident to finish ninth, a livid Webber told reporters, “The guys confirmed that it was the First-Lap Nutcase again – Grosjean.”
“The rest of us are trying to fight for some decent results but he is trying to get to the third corner as fast as he can at every race.’
“It makes it frustrating because a few big guys probably suffered from that and maybe he needs another holiday,” added the Aussie with reference to Romain’s Monza one race ban. He needs to have a look at himself, it was completely his fault. First-lap incidents… yeah… it’s quite embarrassing at this level for him.”
Now, 110 grand prix starts since then and 14 race-accident-related DNFs in that time we are here asking exactly the same question of Grosjean that Webbo asked six years ago: “How many mistakes can you make, how many times can you make the same error?”
By: Paul Velasco
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