Romain Grosjean was told to “shut up” by his Haas team after urging them to retire his car in the closing stages of the United States Grand Prix.
Grosjean, who ran a 39-lap stint to the chequered flag, was struggling with a badly worn front-left tyre in the closing stages of the race. He warned the team “there is no more rubber” but was kept out until the end.
In the final laps the following exchange was heard between Grosjean and two different Haas team members:
| From Romain Grosjean | Mate what was that? Seriously. I don’t know if I… I think we should retire the car. I think we should retire the car, no point in going to the end. I can see the whole [censored by FOM] left tyre. What are we doing, guys? Seriously. |
| To Romain Grosjean | Shut up. |
| From Romain Grosjean | You’re not paying your life here. The tyre is completely gone. |
| To Romain Grosjean | OK dude so we’ll box to retire the car, retire the car. Box now. It’s the last lap anyway, man, but just bring it in easy. |
| From Romain Grosjean | I can go the chequered flag if you want, but… |
| To Romain Grosjean | Yeah we’ll just take the chequer. |
| From Romain Grosjean | OK. |
After the race Grosjean said he’d been suffering “massive tyre degradation on my front-left”.
“I was trying to hang in there, but the last few laps I felt it was pretty dangerous,” he explained. “Off track the weekend’s been great with the fans. I’m very sorry we couldn’t put on a better show from the team.”
Grosjean used a special helmet last weekend which included the message “I’m not moaning” in reference to his not-infrequent radio complaints.
F Truth (@)
23rd October 2017, 16:22
🤣
jenc (@jens)
23rd October 2017, 22:56
Isn’t it against the rules now, to change helmet design…?
Sundar Srinivas Harish
23rd October 2017, 23:51
They’re allowed one special helmet per year for occasions such as their birthday or home race.
David BR (@david-br)
23rd October 2017, 16:25
I guess it saves time if his own team says out loud what everyone is thinking.
ppzzus (@ppzzus)
23rd October 2017, 16:27
good
Michael Brown (@)
23rd October 2017, 16:27
That’s why I couldn’t recognize him. His helmet changed far too much for a simpleton like me to follow.
Nikhil Patel (@tiya)
23rd October 2017, 16:27
Cherita Chen to Romain Grosjean: “Chut Up!”
F Truth (@)
23rd October 2017, 16:29
I really can’t figure out this Haas team dynamic. On one side of the garage you have K Mag who loves playing the villain and riling up the other drivers. On the other side you have the wettest chap on the grid.
Quite entertaining though.
Rick Lopez (@viscountviktor)
23rd October 2017, 16:32
Grosjean doesn’t half moan.
Joka
23rd October 2017, 16:39
Guess Haas regrets signing their contracts early. Grosjean and Magnussen are the worst drivers on the grid at the moment.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
23rd October 2017, 22:15
Worst, but by no means slowest. And speed matters.
jenc (@jens)
23rd October 2017, 22:57
I must disagree with you there. It’s a quite powerfull team member pairing, who pushes each other to better results.
With the car giving some limits, though.
Nunu
24th October 2017, 5:52
Are you mad? These drivers do an excellent job considering the level of the car and team.. MAG is fighting like a lion – being penalized for doing so.. and GRO puts everything he has in it – just listen to the radio…and they have outscored Renault and Mclaren until this weekend…
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
26th October 2017, 10:52
I agree that they are not the most ‘fun’ driver pairing on the grid. KMag really pushing the limits and taking no prisoners. Kevin uses brutality to push the car forward. Grosjean on the other hand tries to use perfection to push things, and when things are not perfect he complains about that.
While both styles are effective, I think, none are nice to witness for me as a fan :)
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
23rd October 2017, 16:55
To Romain Grosjean: “Shut up.”
From Romain Grosjean: “You don’t frighten me, pig dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, you sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called “Race Engineers”, you and all your silly K-nig-hts.”
James
23rd October 2017, 23:44
To Romain Grosjean: “Now, look here my good m…”
Baron (@baron)
23rd October 2017, 17:04
To paraphrase Monty Python: “I f*rt in your general direction.”
Hilarious! Makes F1 almost human…👍
More please Team Haas.
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
23rd October 2017, 17:15
@baron Got there just before ;) hehe
Ju88sy (@)
23rd October 2017, 17:20
Haha, yes this was a hilarious exchange.
Gary
23rd October 2017, 17:45
To Romain: “shut up”
From Romain: “hey, s&ck my b@lls!”
invisiblekid
23rd October 2017, 17:51
OK I’ll play this game,
To Romain Grosjean: “Is there someone else we can talk to?”
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
23rd October 2017, 17:53
I too usually find myself saying shut up to Romain when his radio messages are aired. I find it hard to believe that he’s still in the team given some of his moaning over the years. I thought they’d just get tired of it and tell him not to come back. I also don’t understand why he would ask for the car to be retired rather than asking to pit for new tires. Almost seems like he had dinner reservations or something and wanted to get out and beat the traffic.
Fikri Harish (@)
23rd October 2017, 18:18
Because, like it or not, Grosjean mostly delivered when it counts.
His points haul is still close to double that of Magnussen’s.
Of course, now that Renault has Sainz and Hulkenberg, there’s no way Haas is going to catch up to them, but if they’re lucky, Toro Rosso might be possible.
George (@george)
23rd October 2017, 18:23
Meanwhile Kmag does a 14 lap longer stint on the same tyres. Was it blistering rather than wear on Grosjean?
Nunu
24th October 2017, 5:56
Yes MAG did that but it didn’t do any good to his speed being overtaked by a Sauber… thumbs down this weekend for Haas – even had a loose floor on MAGs car for the qualify… really missed it this weekend
Claus Christensen
25th October 2017, 8:58
On this I agree with you – HAAS didnt do well in austin. mags qualifying pace was slower than FP3 – because they didnt notice the cracked floor. In the race Mag was set back twice for the collisions with the saubers – the first forcing him to do an early pitstop.
The team is not doing well to understand the tires – something they are investing in now.
Tristan
23rd October 2017, 19:08
While we haven’t the full transcript yet (unless I’m mistaken) last race showed the transmitted radio messages are as curated as ever. Grosjean’s “moaning” is nothing other than reality-TV style directing. It makes for an entertaining story and character, I really think it’s unfair to judge him for it personally.
Anyway, as for what was said, both parties are probably in the right. Grosjean could and should have made his point without the dramatics or seriousness of saying his life is on the line. And the respondent could have got their point across about being quiet and just getting on with it without being so curt and unprofessional.
All the other teams manage to do it when their drivers complain.
bosyber (@bosyber)
24th October 2017, 10:49
Well said, I think Grosjean probably just needs to bribe someone in from the production team who’s responsible for what radio to broadcast or not :)
Xavi
25th October 2017, 4:25
I know another driver from same nationality who also dramatically said his life was put in danger … twice!!
:-) LOL…
Miane
23rd October 2017, 19:37
If Kimi wasn’t in the track I could bet that he took the job of Grojean’s engineer for one race.
jay
23rd October 2017, 19:44
perfect
BigJoe
23rd October 2017, 20:41
If fans are offended when drivers or teams ‘moan’ on the radio then maybe we should write to Liberty and ask to stop broadcasting the radio transmissions.
Nikhil Patel (@tiya)
23rd October 2017, 22:12
Hi there Roman.
DYarab
23rd October 2017, 22:18
I see what you did there…
BigJoe
23rd October 2017, 22:37
haha
Seriously snowflake fans expecting Verstappen to talk like he’s just been out for a roast dinner when asked for his opinion on his penalty right after the race. Maybe only Fins should drive F1.
GtisBetter (@)
23rd October 2017, 23:19
Snowflake fans?
GongTong (@gongtong)
25th October 2017, 0:47
Kimi is the only driver who moans more than Romain… He just does it with misery instead of anger. And the fans lap it up.
Lithos
23rd October 2017, 21:12
I really enjoy the transmission transcripts. Ideally we could have full transmissions – perhaps not broadcasted, but as transcripts. Not only for the fun of the heated exchanges and the moaning but because it would probably give further insights.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
23rd October 2017, 21:16
To be fair to Grosjean, his strategy didn’t make a lot of sense. When Massa pushed him out of the points, the only sensible thing to do was to give him fresh tires, so he could attack in the closing stages and possibly regain 10th place. This would have been quite possible, as tire degradation was high. Instead, he had to continue on heavily worn tires and he lost even more positions. Even so, his strategy was still better than that of his teammate. All in all a very bad day for the Haas team.
stefano (@alfa145)
23rd October 2017, 22:33
I haven’t checked on this, but I’m afraid they had run out of fresh tires
jenc (@jens)
23rd October 2017, 23:35
A short direct sentence of “Shut up”…
I’m confused. What does that tell of the team? Of the team dynamics? Or just the form on the day?
I do not recall I have heard/seen another direct “shut up” from team to driver…
F Truth (@)
24th October 2017, 10:47
He was asking to retire the car on the final lap while it was still in working order. If i’m not mistaken that is against the rules? (remember the furore when Fernando did it?)
So it’s probably more like a “shut up man, this radio is public we’re gonna get in trouble” rather than “shut up i hate you” kinda thing.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
24th October 2017, 1:32
That “I’m not moaning” sticker worked out perfectly :)
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
25th October 2017, 14:33
This public comment towards Grosjean indicates a much more serious problem within the Haas team. On one hand, Magnussen has become a track cowboy slinging his guns and firing at everything he sees.
For someone at the team to make this comment over the radio, it indicates that they have no respect for Grosjean. If it was Steiner, it sets a really bad example because everyone at the team will follow his lead. I’m hoping it’s not Steiner. If it’s someone else, then the question is “how did that person feel he/she was entitled to say that to the driver?”. I’m assuming the person has been terminated because keeping that person sends the wrong message.
Second, what is that comment supposed to accomplish? Their driver is telling them he has a huge issue with the car. If you tell him to shut up then obviously you don’t trust his feedback and that’s a huge issue, because trust is very important between the driver and the team. It also doesn’t address the issue if there is indeed one – you are just telling him to drive to his possible death.
So if I had to put a price on the cost of this communication, I would say it was a $5-$10 million remark that Haas paid there. Probably their most expensive statement and upgrade they’ll ever make as a team. Possibly more than and it could skyrocket to $50-$100 million.
Time will tell – they must obviously be a very wealthy team as even Mercedes can’t afford such statements.
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
26th October 2017, 10:53
I hope the trust issue is not as serious as it seems.
But if it is … yes, it’s a serious issue. Seriously!