Romain Grosjean brought his No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing IndyCar home in second place at Saturday night’s GMR Grand Prix, silencing his own doubts after 10 uncompetitive years in Formula 1.
Grosjean left Formula 1 at the end of last year, his time with Haas cut short by a horrific fiery crash at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Suffering burns to his hands, the Frenchman was not able to compete in the final two races of the championship before making his move to IndyCars.
He left Formula 1 after nine and a half seasons of racing with no wins, 10 podiums and having scored a mere 10 points in his final two seasons.
Joining Dayle Coyne Racing in IndyCars, he finished P10 on his debut and P13 in his second race before skipping the oval races in Texas.
Returning for the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis’ road course, he qualified on pole position before following that up with a P2 on Sunday night. Rinus Veekay took the win by 4.9s.
“Well, it feels like the good old days when I enjoyed winning races,” Grosjean told RACER.
“In Formula 1, when you don’t have a good car, it beats you up a bit and yes, you lose a bit of self confidence. You don’t know if it’s you or if it’s the car, and sometimes you ask yourself, but it was good people around me to remind me what I was capable of.
“I came here as a challenge in IndyCar, and also, every decision means it’s a risk. But I came in and I say, ‘Look, I want to see what I’m capable of doing. I think I still got it. I can do good.’
“Yeah, this weekend has been gaining proof that they were right. Barber already gave me really good confidence. St. Pete was a touch less competitive. But this weekend, we were definitely on it.”
Congratulations to our friend @RGrosjean on his first podium in IndyCar in just his third race ?
He finished P2 in the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis ?? pic.twitter.com/9Ipy2Hh9LB
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) May 15, 2021
He added: “Formula 1 has been an incredible part of my life, and I don’t regret any of it, but obviously, to the end decided to stop because I wanted to fight for wins.
“I knew they were an option that we could be competitive and fighting for good position here, and that’s what was the motivation I had.
“After being 10 years in Formula 1, it was easy for people to say, ‘Oh, this is a bad driver.’ But I’m here and I’m enjoying my time, and I’m doing the best I can.
“This weekend, we’ve shown that the team knows what to do with a good car, and I know to drive it.”
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