Mercedes promises Grosjean an F1 farewell run

Toto Wolff has promised Romain Grosjean he will give him a test in a Mercedes next year if the injured Frenchman doesn’t get to complete his Formula 1 career in Abu Dhabi and no other team else offers him the chance of a few farewell laps.

Grosjean wants to race in the final round of the season despite injuries sustained in his huge crash in Bahrain a week ago, wanting to end his F1 career on a different note than that terrifying incident. However, Grosjean also admitted his burns are taking time to heal. A decision will be made after this race weekend, and, if he is unable to race, he hopes for a private test at a later date instead.

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“We will see. I won’t take the risk of losing mobility in my left index finger and thumb just to go to Abu Dhabi,” Grosjean said. “The story would be beautiful to go to Abu Dhabi; but if I don’t, I will call every single Formula 1 team and see if anyone would offer me a private test in January or so, to jump back in a car and have 10 or 15 laps for myself.”

Given his comments, Wolff was asked on Saturday night if Mercedes would consider providing such a test, to which he replied: “If we are allowed to do this and nobody else within his universe of teams that he raced for would provide him with such an opportunity, we would do this.”

While Grosjean’s family were not particularly enthralled by his desire to race in Abu Dhabi, he says it is something that will become a major regret if his health doesn’t allow him to.

“Sunday night, the first video call I did with my kids, my wife – my Dad was there – was to say I will race in Abu Dhabi. You can imagine their reaction. They weren’t very impressed with me, and I don’t blame them; I will always understand they don’t accept (and will) say it is very selfish. (But) it’s what I need, and what I want to do.

“If it doesn’t happen, well I’m alive (and) I’ll have plenty of other opportunities in the future. I’ll have a Super License in 2021 and clearly no one is safe from COVID-19, so we’ll see.”