Romain Grosjean looks back on his starting accident at Spa 2012, which earned him a ban and led to a negative spiral – “Should have won three races “
Fast but error-prone – Romain Grosjean had this reputation during his time in Formula 1. Alongside Pastor Maldonado, the Frenchman was considered one of the biggest “crash kids” of his time. He owed this reputation above all to his first full Formula 1 season at Lotus in 2012 – and an infamous accident at Spa-Francorchamps.
Because this had earned Grosjean his last ban in Formula 1 to date. Grosjean had caused a mass start crash in Belgium in 2012, in which Grosjean, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Kamui Kobayashi, Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado were also involved.
The FIA had seen enough after several previous incidents and suspended Grosjean for the next race. A short time later, the penalty point system was introduced, in which a driver is automatically banned after collecting twelve points. However, no driver has ever managed to do so.
Eleven years later, Grosjean now talks about the accident that shaped his career. “Spa was a mistake,” he tells formula1.com. “I accept the penalty, but I think it was far too harsh.”
Fernando Alonso, whose head the Lotus had narrowly missed at the time, had also sent him a message saying that the penalty was too harsh when Grosjean had apologized to the Spaniard.
Grosjean can also explain how the accident at Spa happened in the first place. The rookie experienced a spectacular start to his second Formula 1 adventure, having already contested a few races alongside Alonso at Renault in 2009
He finished third in the first qualifying session in Australia, followed by his first podium in the fourth race in Bahrain. Even a race win seemed possible, but in Valencia the alternator broke while he was in a promising position.
“It was almost too fast,” he says. “After Valencia, things went downhill because I tried to win instead of accepting that sometimes fourth, fifth, second or third place is good enough. I just wanted to win. And I think that’s exactly why Spa happened.”
Grosjean is not proud of that either, “but that’s just part of it,” he says.
After crash in negative spiral
After his ban, things didn’t go smoothly for Grosjean. He would not manage another top six result, but the low point came in Japan when he sent Mark Webber into a spin at the start, who then insulted him as a “first-lap nutcase”.
“That wasn’t nice of Mark,” says Grosjean. “I mean, we all make mistakes and he made some too. That was tough. “
The Frenchman, who later admitted to having sought psychological help, says that he fell into a negative spiral at the time. He wanted to perform well, but came under a lot of pressure not to make any more mistakes.
“They have you on their radar. You’re in a situation that’s almost impossible to get out of. It’s like being in a wave or a washing machine that you want to get out of,” says Grosjean. “And every time you want to get out, you get pulled back in. “
Grosjean: Should have won three races
One year later, however, Grosjean was in the form of his life: at the end of the 2013 season, he finished on the podium four times in the five races from South Korea to Austin. But because Sebastian Vettel was on a winning streak of nine races in a row at the time, he was denied a victory
This was to remain the case until the end of his Formula 1 career in 2020. “I never won a race,” he sums up. “But I should have won three: Valencia 2012, Nürburgring 2013, when the safety car came out because of Jules Bianchi’s car, and in Japan.”
Back then, Lotus “panicked” and copied Red Bull’s strategy. “If we hadn’t done that, we would probably have won the race,” says Grosjean, who was in the lead until the first pit stop. “A Red Bull simply never retired before me. But that’s the way it is. “