Romain Grosjean, Haas, Hungaroring, 2019

Grosjean says his six-year-old son talked him into staying in F1

2019 F1 season

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Romain Grosjean says he was in two minds about whether to continue in Formula 1 until he talked about it with his young son.

On Thursday Haas confirmed Grosjean will remain with the team for a fifth season. He made his grand prix debut in 2009 and has become a father since then.

In response to a question from RaceFans, Grosjean explained he’d been considering moving into other championships. However he realised he wanted to stay in Formula 1 while talking to his son Sacha.

“It made the switch in my mind when I spoke with my six-year-old son in the car,” Grosjean explained. “We were driving and he says ‘Daddy I want to come see you in Formula 1, I have never seen a grand prix’. He came to a filming day [as a] five-year-old.” Grosjean has two younger children, Simon and Camille.

“I thought, they’ve got to see me in Formula 1,” he added. “It was just a small thing I needed to be sure that I wanted to be here for longer.”

Grosjean confirmed he had spoken to DTM teams about a potential move into the series. He said he’s admired the championship since racing in the support Formula 3 category earlier in his career.

“It was more a personal reflection,” he explained. “Do I want to carry in Formula 1 and know that there is very little chance to win the championship for now? Or do I want to go in a series where I know I can win the championship.

“I’ve always been passionate about the DTM since Formula 3 in 2006. I think it’s a great championship, cars look good. And then you can always combine DTM and Formula E which makes you a pretty good season.

“So plan A was Formula 1 and there were are few options in there and plan B and C were DTM or Formula E or both together.”

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2019 F1 season

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13 comments on “Grosjean says his six-year-old son talked him into staying in F1”

  1. As they go, that’s a good reason (and one you don’t often hear)

  2. – Son I’m just letting you know I refuse to stay in F1 one minute more
    – Whatever
    – Oh alright then, you’ve talked me into it again

  3. Why would they keep him…..sponsorship money

  4. Such a sweet sentiment.

  5. His Son? Excellent for his son.
    I suspect that I & many others would know that CrachJeans is close to currently, one of the most over rated drivers in current F1.
    I politely observe it’s his sponsorship cash encouraging Haas to retain him?

    1. Why is it people keep referring to him with this name?? is it all based on ages ago? It was over a year ago now that he was crashing very frequently in the race. He is making nothing like as many mistakes now, at least not big ones. Many other drivers have crashed more than him at important times this year… Even the great Leclerc has cost himself 2 races. Verstappen also once. Grosjean has just had very bad luck and I think that is making him look worse than he is. He moans a lot for sure, but it won’t be related to that why the team kept hold of him. I keep saying this, but it was Grosjean who pointed out that the old speck car was better, and they have started using parts from that again. You never know, Grosjeans’s feedback could be better than you think out of the car and it may end up steering them back in the right direction. The level of criticism he gets is ridiculous when it is the team who knows far more than us about him have chosen to keep him over Hulkenberg.

      To me, he doesn’t look good overall, but better than Magnussen and Hass will have their reasons for keeping him over getting Hulkenberg.

  6. I think his son may have been chief negotiator in the Rich Energy deal as well

  7. But who was the 6 year old that talked Haas into keeping him? :-P

  8. Surprised to hear it was not Marcus Ericsson this time.

  9. I want new toys, dadda.

  10. A nice thing to say, and a lovely sentiment, but I feel like he’s also saying he knows his time is up and he’s staying longer so his children see him do it. And not do it very well, tbh, not at the level he showed earlier in his career.

  11. Ok hulkenburg. Just wait one more year…

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