With 8 First-Lap Crashes to His Name, Romain Grosjean Finds Fault With Max Verstappen Record Breaking Season: “It’s 99% Perfect”

Following his spectacular performance in 2022, Max Verstappen developed a sizable fan base. He has received praise from all over the world for his raw talent and ballistic speed. We may have all believed the two-time champion was impeccable the entire season and hadn’t made any mistakes, but Romain Grosjean has revealed one mistake in the Dutchman’s record-breaking campaign.

The 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix saw a terrible collision for the Swiss-French driver which led to Grosjean’s Formula One career coming to an end. Grosjean has crashed on the first lap eight times throughout his career, so he is aware of how challenging it is for a driver to stay error-free on an F1 circuit. Although the French driver is quite impressed with Max Verstappen, he then highlights one instance in which the Red Bull ace made the wrong choice.

In a conversation with motorsport magazine, He said, ” I honestly think it’s one of the best that I’ve seen in Formula 1. It’s 99 percent perfect, [the missing] one percent being Brazil. That was the wrong call and the wrong message.”

In his statement, Grosjean alludes to Verstappen’s resolve to prevent Sergio Perez from passing him. Though neither driver would ever confess it, the decision was probably influenced by an incident that occurred in Monaco earlier in the season. It is believed that Perez intentionally collided with the wall in order to prevent Verstappen from setting the fastest lap time. According to the Frenchman, Verstappen should have acted differently during the incident.

The IndyCar driver, however, doesn’t think that the ruthless Max Verstappen made any other blunders aside from that one, “Apart from that, there’s nothing you can say. He was there in qualifying, he was there in the race,” said Grosjean.

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Even though the former Haas driver no longer competes in Formula 1, he is usually spotted discussing the sports headlines. The Frenchman most recently chose a driver that stands a high chance of succeeding in Formula One.

Romain Grosjean selects an IndyCar driver capable of competing in Formula 1

The connection between America’s IndyCar and high-speed racing appears to be expanding, but as of right now, it has only been one way. One of the select few drivers who transitioned from Formula One to the IndyCar series is Grosjean. Colton Herta, who nearly won the place at the AlphaTauri but was turned down by the regulatory body due to his lack of Super License points, is one of the most recent drivers to have partially made it from IndyCar to F1.

The Frenchman who quit Formula One in 2020 cites Alex Palou as an illustration of how similar the talent levels of the two sports are despite popular belief. Palou demonstrated sheer skills during the US GP FP1 session in the Mclaren car, “One of the best examples was when [Alex] Palou came to COTA to do FP1 for McLaren and on the same tires as Lando [Norris] was just two or three-tenths off, which is very, very good,” he told Motor Sport.

“For Colton, the picture was bigger. He has got the capacity and speed to be in F1. But if you look at his career, he has never won a championship, in Indy Lights or IndyCar. So I also understand why he doesn’t have the points for a super license,” he added.

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The strengthening ties between the two disciplines could be beneficial for Formula 1, given several of the sport’s giants will be retiring in the coming years, necessitating the recruitment of youthful talent to fill their enormous shoes.