Promise is a promise: Toto Wolff can expect a phone call

F1 News

3 February 2021 at 18:59
Last update 4 February 2021 at 00:56
  • GPblog.com

After his crash in Bahrain, it soon became clear that Romain Grosjean would no longer be racing in the 2020 season. This has prevented him from saying goodbye to the sport in a normal way, something he would have liked to do. If nobody would offer him a test, Mercedes might be able to do something for him. The championship team indicated this relatively quickly after the accident.

Give Toto a call

Grosjean has not forgotten that of course and he is still very eager to accept the offer. The driver made this known today at the press conference where he announced he would be competing for Dale Coyne Racing in IndyCar this year. "I’m still very keen on jumping in the Mercedes F1 car for sure," said Grosjean, quoted by Crash.net.

"It’s an offer that you cannot refuse, just for me to have an understanding of the taste of that car and how it was working. So yes, definitely. At the minute I think they’re absolutely flat out in building the new car for the new season and understanding when it’s going to start and how it’s gonna go. I won’t phone Toto right now, but he can expect to get a phone call eventually, me asking to have a go at it. It could be absolutely beautiful."

Not yet spoken to

In doing so, Grosjean indicated that he has not yet formally spoken to Mercedes, also because he is focusing on his new adventure. "So I just want to get the full IndyCar programme going before looking at other things. There hasn’t really been any firm communication. I have spoken with someone there and they say right now we are very busy with building the new cars and so on."

"Which I know – I’ve been in Formula 1 long enough to understand that this time of the year the factories are running flat-out as much as you can with COVID, on getting the cars ready. So, I think it’s just not a good time to chase that. But I will give a phone call to Toto at one point and see what can be done."

Finally, Grosjean admitted he was moved by the offer: "The offer really touched me in a good way. I was surprised that it was such a natural way of going for it. And obviously I would love to do it."