Romain Grosjean relocated to the US to pursue the American racing dream, but his race yesterday at Mid-Ohio was nothing short of a nightmare.
Crashing with not one but two of his team-mates left an exasperated team boss Michael Andretti chasing his drivers round the paddock, amid rumours of a feud which has boiled over between them.
Grosjean scored three podiums in his debut season with the minnow Dale Coyne squad last year, earning himself a move to American giants Andretti Autosport.
This season – which included a runners-up spot at Long Beach – has been one of highs and lows, with this most recent weekend another to forget for the Frenchman.
On lap 58 of the Honda Indy 200 Grosjean, looking to secure a solid top-10 finish, attempted to overtake team-mate Alexander Rossi, but ended up being run off the road.
In trying again the next lap, the two made contact twice as Rossi appeared to understeer into Grosjean before hitting him again as the wheel was knocked out his hands the first time.
Whatever the reason, Grosjean didn’t appear to be in the mood to give the benefit of the doubt to his former F1-colleague. A feud has been apparently brewing in the Andretti camp since Long Beach, when Grosjean made contact with Rossi and Andretti stablemate Colton Herta, before the traditional Indianapolis 500 pranks between drivers began to turn slightly sour.
Grosjean has been making enemies outside his team as well after colliding earlier this season with Graham Rahal at Barber, who claimed several other drivers – one of which was thought to be Rossi – didn’t have a particularly high opinion of the Frenchman’s driving, an apparent precursor to the Mid-Ohio collisions.
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Motor Sport
“He’s an absolute idiot, sorry,” Grosjean said when being interviewed by the Indy Star about the Rossi incident. “I don’t know why he does that. He’s on blacks, I’m reds, I’m on the outside, carrying more speed.
“Okay, [what caused the first contact was] maybe he slipped because he’s on cold tires. Okay. Do it again on the next lap, on purpose. Now, my hand is hurting, and we lost the bloody race.”
“It was just a racing incident,” said what seemed to be a coy Rossi afterwards. “He was on the softer tyre, probably was gonna get around me and he likes to do it fast and early.
“I had a touch of understeer, and obviously that’s unfortunate to happen to a team-mate, but that’s the way it goes.”
The 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner denied that his choice to move team next year – to the McLaren squad – influenced his behaviour on track, but reports emerged from Mid-Ohio of Andretti confronting Rossi’s father in front of fans after the race, saying he was fed up with the situation.
Meanwhile Grosjean later tagged team-mate Colton Herta, who was hardly best-pleased either, but the former was repentant for this incident.
“One thing I want say is that I’m sorry to Colton,” he said.
“I got caught up there because I was catching the pack on really warm tyres, had a lot more grip than everyone else and I just braked, didn’t realise [Colton] would brake so early. So I tried to avoid contact.
“I know that wasn’t good from my side, but that was the biggest part from the day – Rossi was an absolute idiot out there.”
On an afternoon which became evermore chaotic for Andretti, Rossi would later run his other team-mate Devlin DeFrancesco off the road with 10 laps to go.
Grosjean then refused to protect Herta and Rossi – who were just ahead of him – whilst DeFrancesco – just behind Grosjean– was warned not to stray into his team-mate’s wayward path on a safety car restart.
“Let him go. He’s a lap down on reds…and being a d***,” was the message DeFrancesco received.
Team harmony is not at an all-time high at Andretti
IndyCar
Grosjean was instructed to pull immediately into the pitlane at the chequered flag to avoid post-race interviews, whilst team boss Andretti was reportedly storming round the paddock on a scooter trying to round up his pilots for a dressing down.
Once Andretti had found and finished speaking with his drivers, he told the Indy Star: “Personalities are not getting along, and they’re taking it out on the racetrack, which is a big problem.”
Grosjean however appeared more diplomatic when talking about longterm relations in the team.
Grosjean also made contact with team-mate Colton Herta
IndyCar
“Michael talked to us, it wasn’t pleasant but obviously good that he did it. I understand that he’s frustrated and not happy with us…” before he was whisked away by an Andretti PR officer.
Mid-Ohio race-winner Scott McLaughlin was asked about the controversy afterwards, and didn’t seem too surprised: “That’s been building all year,” was the Kiwi’s verdict.
With half the IndyCar season still to go, a feud with his team-mates has the potential to run and run for Grosjean.
