Ahead of the Singapore GP, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu spoke at length about Romain Grosjean returning to F1 during the team’s testing day in Mugello.
After a fiery crash in the 2020 F1 Bahrain GP, Grosjean, who suffered from burns to his hands and legs, was unable to compete in the final two rounds of the 2020 season.
Since the 2020 season marked Grosjean’s last season in F1, the Frenchman never got the opportunity to sit in an F1 car for one last time.
An opportunity, his former team Haas, for which the 39-year-old had driven from 2016 to 2020, finally presented itself in September.
The team announced that Grosjean would make his long-awaited return to F1 during the team’s Testing of Previous Car (TPC) test at Mugello.
Komatsu revealed that the team had always wanted to provide Grosjean with a final bow in an F1 car, but couldn’t do it.
Haas finally had the opportunity to give Grosjean his final drive.
This year, Haas had the capability and was quick to contact Grosjean, who jumped at the chance to be back inside an F1 car.
Asked about highlights from the test, which turned into a team event, Komatsu responded that the entire event was a highlight.
”Highlights? The whole thing was a highlight. No, it was really great. Obviously, nobody wanted that Bahrain to be his last time in F1 car. And then, we always wanted to do this, but until this year we had no opportunity.”
“So, capabilities to do it. So, this year we got the heritage team to run the TPC car. So, as soon as we had that capability, we spoke with Roman. You know, do you want to do it?Of course, he wanted to do it. And we wanted to do it in a proper high-speed circuit.”
“Mugello, it’s one of my favourite, his favourite.And then, in terms of his calendar, September work. So, yeah, I managed to make it happen, which was great. And then, obviously, it was raining all day.”
“Then, in terms of his calendar, September worked. So, I managed to make it happen, which was great.”
A happy day, despite the rain.
On the day of the test at Mugello Circuit, a small obstacle presented itself in the form of rain, which stressed Komatsu and Chief Engineer Dom Chiefer of Haas’ heritage team.
Despite the rain, Komatsu recalls that Grosjean was ‘smiling all day’, happy to be back inside an F1 car, making his return five years after the accident in Bahrain.
“And then, obviously, it was raining all day.So, that’s really a shame. But, Roman was just enjoying, smiling all day
“I think we, myself and the other guy called Dom Chiefer, chief engineer on the heritage team, we were a bit more stressed-out [going]: ‘Come on, when is this rain going to clear? Can we give him a dry tyre?’”
“But Romain [Grosjean] was just smiling all day. “
“So, I said to Dom [Chiefer]: ‘Look, we shouldn’t be the ones stressing about it. That’s his day. He’s happy, so we should just chill out.’”
“It was great, really, really good.”
Grosjean’s former Haas crew was present for the Mugello drive.
The team even managed to have some of Grosjean’s former Haas crew members, including his number one mechanic, present for the event.
Komatsu himself acted as the race engineer, while Dom Chiefer, who had previously been Grosjean’s performance engineer, stepped into his old role.
The Haas team principal notes that it was a ‘really nice experience’, which showed that the team still cared.
“We managed to get some of his original crew, number one mechanic, composite guy. And then, I was doing engineer. I was just talking to him on the radio. Dom, this guy, the heritage team, he used to be on Roman’s performance engineer. So, he was doing performance as well.”
“But then, yeah, so that was great. Really, really nice experience. Nice to be able to do that and then show that we care. The whole thing was uplifting.”
F1 return turned into a Haas family event.
Haas turned Grosjean’s return to F1 into an even bigger event, inviting their Italian colleagues along with their families to Mugello.
The Italian side of the team works out of Maranello, which isn’t too far from the Mugello circuit.
Current Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearmann elected to stay and join the event that hosted almost 500 people and showcased the team’s spirit.
“It’s close to 500 people. And that was amazing. Then, the day before, we had a miracle testing.So, both of our race drivers were there. So, they stayed overnight. So, we had Roman and two of our race drivers.”
“So, the whole thing was really uplifting. And that’s what I feel like sometimes you need to bring the team together and then showcase who we are. We care about people, you know.”
“It just happened to be, well, not happened to be, we planned it.
“So, that day, Friday, we made it a family day for our Italian colleagues based in Maranello, which is about an hour and a half away.
“Without having that test car, it was not possible to do a family day in Italy with a running car.
“That’s the first time we managed to do it, the first time in 10 years.
“We had it with families and kids and everybody.
“It was close to 500 people.
“Then, the day before, we had a tyre testing. So, both of our race drivers were there, they stayed overnight.”
“So, we had Roman and two of our race drivers. The whole thing was really uplifting.”
“That’s what I feel like sometimes, you need to bring the team together and then showcase who we are.”
“We care about people, you know. So, that was very, very nice.”
Esteban Ocon on Grosjean’s F1 return.
During the Thursday press conference ahead of the F1 Singapore GP, Haas Driver Esteban Ocon spoke about Grosjean’s return, which turned into a Family event for the team.
Ocon describes the day as an emotionally charged yet happy one, on which Grosjean showed that he hadn’t lost any performance and was right up to pace.
“It was awesome.And, you know, we had most of our employees who were there. It was a big Haas family day.”
“Everyone was there to witness Romain driving an F1 car five years after his accident in Bahrain.”
“It was a day full of happiness and emotions, really, and I’m glad to have been there to witness it all.”
“Romain didn’t lose anything. He was straight away on pace.”
“He knew everything on the steering wheel and everything, obviously, you know, it’s only been five years, but yeah, definitely a great day.”
“And this team is very special in that sense — there are emotions.”
“Obviously, we are a small team, but it’s really a big family.
“And even though it was five years ago, the team didn’t forget that Romain was there from the start, and that’s quite special.”
