Acclaimed by the fans who elected him as their favorite IndyCar driver last February, Romain Grosjean does not only have friends in the paddock of the queen discipline in the United States, far from it.
The episode that occurred during the Nashville Grand Prix on Sunday is a new example.
The Frenchman ended up in the wall after a collision with Josef Newgarden and saw his race ruined with four laps to go.
Enough to get it out of its hinges.
“
Magnificent!
It's fucking beautiful!
And then I'm the aggressive pilot!?
It's me ?
“, pestered the Andretti driver after this race incident which was not subject to any sanction from the stewards.
Cold, Grosjean simply said he was "
disappointed by Newgarden's maneuver
", in comments relayed by
Auto-Hebdo
.
His competitor took pleasure in sending him a message: “
Welcome to IndyCar!
He's seen worse things than that.
I don't know what else to say to him."
The double champion (2017, 2019), who is fighting for a 3rd crown (he is 4th in the Championship with two races to go), actually had a lot more to say on the subject:
“Fortunately I was ahead of him
( in the turn).
This is the most important thing.
You want to be in front of this guy in this kind of situation.
I myself was hit six times.
I probably need to chat with some of the young pilots.
They are very aggressive and if you are not aggressive back you get run over.
That's how IndyCar is."
This aggressiveness, Newgarden is not the only one to point the finger when it comes to the French.
Last May at the Alabama Grand Prix, Graham Rahal castigated the former Formula 1 driver after several clashes:
“I knew that Romain was going to try a dive, I had been warned of his practices.
Look, we were already straight there, why is he turning on me?
I'm just frustrated because it's not the first time.
In Saint Petersburg already, he touched everyone he could touch.
As another pilot in the series told me, you can't teach an old dog (sic) new tricks, it was already his reputation in Europe, and you quickly become familiar with it here.
"It's car racing, it's IndyCar, wheel-to-wheel battles!"
Sunday evening, some competitors were visibly delighted to see Grosjean in the role of the watered sprinkler.
“We reap what we sow
,” replied Swedish pilot Marcus Ericsson in response to an angry emoji from the Frenchman on Twitter.
Aged 36, Grosjean is participating in his second season of Indycar.
After a rookie exercise with Dale Coyne Racing, he is driving for Andretti in 2022. Two races from the end of the season, he is 14th in the Championship with 273 points, far from leader Will Power (450), Scott Dixon (444), Marcus Ericsson (438) and Josef Newgarden (428).
The other Frenchman in the running, Simon Pagenaud, is 12th (284 pts).
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