How many first-lap crashes has Grosjean caused?

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Stewart wonders if there’s been a loss of perspective in the debate over Romain Grosjean’s first-lap blunders:

Any chance of doing one of your reviews on all of Romain Grosjean’s first lap incidents and determining how many we’re his fault/racing incidents/not his fault?

There’s some mass hysteria flying around and I was wondering if perception has overtaken reality?

Grosjean leapt to notoriety after sparking a collision on the first lap of the Belgian Grand Prix which succeeding in wiping out himself along with Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez, as well as spoiling Kamui Kobayashi’s race.

In the aftermath Alonso was the first person to put a figure on the damage Grosjean has caused. “It’s true that in twelve races Romain had seven crashes at the start,” said the Ferrari driver.

Last Sunday Grosjean added another to his first lap wreck count, clumsily bumping into Mark Webber on the first lap at Suzuka. This gave the impression that the necessary lessons hadn’t been learned and there were fresh calls for further bans. After all, he’s now been responsible for eight first-lap crashes.

Or has he? As Stewart suggests, let’s take a look at what happened in those eight races:

RaceRival/sIncidentConsequencesPenaltyNotes
AustraliaPastor MaldonadoGrosjean clips Maldonado’s car while being overtaken on insideGrosjean retiresOccurred on lap two
MalaysiaMichael SchumacherSchumacher and Grosjean make contact as Schumacher attempts to pass on outsideSchumacher and Grosjean delayed
SpainSergio PerezContact punctures Perez’s tyrePerez delayed
MonacoMichael Schumacher, Kamui KobayashiGrosjean and Schumacher made contact, spinning Grosjean in front of oncoming carsGrosjean and Kobayashi retireGrosjean moved left to avoid Alonso on his right, who moved left
BritainPaul di RestaContact punctures di Resta’s tyreDi Resta retires
GermanyFelipe MassaGrosjean and Massa make contactGrosjean delayedMassa had slowed with front wing damage from an early collision
BelgiumLewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, Kamui KobayashiGrosjean collides with Hamilton, the pair lose control and hit othersHamilton, Alonso, Perez and Grosjean retire, Kobayashi delayed and damagedOne-race ban for GrosjeanGrosjean and Lotus did not appeal against the ban
JapanMark WebberGrosjean runs into Webber under brakingGrosjean and Webber delayedTen-second stop-go for Grosjean

How many of these collisions were Grosjean’s fault? The stewards did not punish him for any of these incidents until the crash at Spa. He was also penalised for the crash in Japan.

But it doesn’t necessarily follow that he should only be blamed for those two collisions. It is clear from past precedent that stewards generally do not issue penalties for incidents where the instigator bears the brunt of the consequences.

However few of Grosjean’s incidents prior to Spa really compare with the seriousness of the mistake he made there. Most of them can be put down to the sort of contact which generally happens at the start of races, particularly in the midfield where Grosjean often finds himself.

The Monaco crash had most in common with the Spa collision, as it began when Grosjean moved into the path of another rival. But in mitigation, Grosjean was moving left to avoid Alonso.

As Alonso himself discovered in Suzuka, if you are between two cars and the one on the right moves towards you, it leaves you the choice of waiting to be hit or moving left and hoping the other driver gets out of the way.

Of the half-dozen incidents that occurred before Spa, it’s hard to make a case for Grosjean as the sole instigator of any of them. ‘Racing incident’ is the phrase I’d use to describe a lot of them. It’s a view which I think is supported by the absence of any punishments for the first six.

Grosjean said his Suzuka crash came about in part because he was trying to avoid tangling with Perez, who was on his left at the time. While this in no way excuses his mistake, it does show that Grosjean has taken the lesson from Spa onboard.

We should also question why the stewards, having declined to punish Grosjean for any of his previous incidents, went for the ‘nuclear’ option in response to the Spa crash. I find it troubling that the stewards’ decision specifically referred to the effect the crash had on the championship (emphasis added):

The stewards regard this incident as an extremely serious breach of the regulations which had the potential to cause injury to others. It eliminated leading championship contenders from the race.

Clearly, all drivers should be considered equal in the stewards’ eyes. Incidents should not be punished a more severe way merely if they involve championship contenders. By imposing such a swingeing penalty on Grosjean the stewards appeared to be too concerned with the consequences of the collision rather than the nature of Grosjean’s misdemeanour.

After Suzuka, Grosjean knows his every twitch of the steering wheel will be scrutinised for wrongdoing. His rivals are aware of his record and how urgently he needs to avoid future incidents. He can expect rough treatment at the start on Sunday and for several more races to come.

In my view, there was little in Grosjean’s driving before Spa to suggest that such a major accident was around the corner. Some may find that a generous views. But either way, it is imperative he avoids further collisions with his rivals.

Particularly, it would seem, those in contention for the championship.

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Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Lotus F1 Team/LAT

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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69 comments on “How many first-lap crashes has Grosjean caused?”

  1. There’s been far too much bad hype surrounding both Grosjean and Maldonado to the point where hardly a weekend goes by without someone saying that they’re going to crash. I find it completely unfair on both guys. Particularly in Grosjean’s case where people are starting to pull statistics seemingly out of thin air and dressing them up to make someone look bad. Out of Grosjean’s incidents, I can only see him at fault for 2 of them (Spa and Suzuka). These 2 races, he recieved the penalty, served it, and continued racing. There really shouldn’t be this fuss over drivers that are obviously quick but are just unlucky. Would we say it’s Schumacher’s fault for his technical retirements this year? No. Why should we all gang up on Grosjean and Maldonado as if it’s always their fault?

    1. Totally agree with you.

    2. Why should we all gang up on Grosjean and Maldonado as if it’s always their fault?

      Because, quite often it is one of their faults. It’s also the regularity of their involvment in collisions, as well as the seriousness of these collisions.

      1. Uh the article did a good job showing that in the case of Grosjean it is just racing incidents. And not any one drivers fault. Also sheer bad luck does happen, but I suppose we should just assume they will cause a wreck or much less be in one, and then make the even bolder conclusion that it was their fault; even if the stewards say otherwise.

        I too echo the mechanical failures seen by the top runners, and if you would leap to blame them for that. It is called racing, race incidents happen and so the other things. And it once again becomes quite apparent when you look at the real stats

    3. Actually, I think Maldonado has really matured and learned his lesson. He’s been driving very well since Singapore. Grosjean on the other hand needs to have a serious rethink over what he does at the start. He’s had far too many first lap incidents.

      1. Is two consecutive clean races a cause for celebration? i’m sure he’s managed that in the past anyway.

      2. I think its still a bit too early to say

        Maldonado has really matured and learned his lesson

        @vettel1. Yes, after first telling the world how he was doing nothing wrong before Spa, after Grosjean got the ban he did seem to take more care and has been keeping to it, but its too early to say its there to stay.

        As for Grosjean, I think the Japan thing was really both him being carefull not to repeat Spa, as well as others taking advantage of knowing RoGro will have to be carefull. Was it DC who mentioned in his collumn that if GRO would not have collected Webber, Perez would have crashed into him instead?

    4. agreed

    5. Agree.

      BTW, I cannot believe they actually said:

      The stewards regard this incident as an extremely serious breach of the regulations which had the potential to cause injury to others. It eliminated leading championship contenders from the race.

      That just like saying: “Ahh… such a shame you ran into Lewis and Fernando. That’s a race ban. But nevermind, mate, next time remember to always crash into the Marussia!”

      1. Indeed, @fer-no65, as @keithcollantine mentions in the article this is a really worrying thing, if the Stewards take championship consequences in account, and differentiate between leading drivers taking out and others as if theres a difference.

  2. Spa 09 Roman & Jamie A managed to take out Lewis & Jenson on the first lap. What made it worse was I was at the race & sat near the end of the track so didn’t even get to see the two British drivers go past me!!!

    Everyone makes mistakes & everyone has 1st lap incidents but it has just been far too many times now for Roman & he doesn’t seem to be learning his lesson.

    I like aggressive drivers that are willing to take risks to make positions rather than just sit behind but the difference with Roman is he doesn’t have the racing skills to pull it off.

    If he doesn’t have a seat in F1 next year it will be completely his own fault & not many drivers get a 2nd chance at F1 with a leading team. Shame really because he has speed & it doesn’t seem to effect him the same if he can make it past lap 5 . . .

    1. but it has just been far too many times now for Roman & he doesn’t seem to be learning his lesson.

      What lesson? Don’t be caught up in incidents? What about the ones where he was innocent?

      1. The fact that we are sifting through the many incidents involving him indicates that he does have a lesson to learn.

        1. No it doesn’t. That is an over sweeping generalization. What it actually proves is that people are consumed by the weekly media display and over hype then run with what ever is popular to talk about when surrounding f1.

          Rather we are sifting through them to help prove fact from fiction. Also how quickly forget that he has had some consistent drives and has finished next to or better then his team mate in many races this year.

          1. Please read my post again. I am taking nothing away from Roman. He has shown that he has the speed to be a contender & has out paced Kimmi at the start of the season but all that comes to nothing if he only manages to finish half the races he is involved in! (Please don’t correct me with stats as this is not a factual statement).

            F1 drivers are considered the best in the world & I would agree with that. Roman has shown talent & speed but if you can’t handle the start of a GP then all the talent & speed in the world will not help you.

            You can be the fastest & most technical boxer in the world & beat an opponent over 11 rounds but if you get KO’d in the final round then it means nothing.

            Results are what count at the end of the day & even though Roman has been faster than Kimmi for some part of the season he doesn’t have the points to back it up. Points mean prizes in F1 & DNFs at the same time as taking out your rivals doesn’t earn you any respect or a chance to be in a car that has the potential to win races. Not to mention the money the team will miss out on in the constructors championship and the bad press which his driving attracts (we all know how important & powerful sponsorship is in F1)

            People’s opinion of Roman is nothing to do with media hype. I’ve said it once & I’ll say it again . . . . Not many drivers in F1 get a 2nd chance & IF he is without a drive for 2013 then he only has himself to blame.

            I don’t want to see him fail but there is far too much talent around that can’t get a drive these days & Lotus want to mix it with the front runners. So far Roman has not provided the results to justify being part of that & he knows it.

          2. We did read it, And we disagree. The bit “if you can’t handle the start of a GP” I think is unfair, and indicative of a lack of thought regarding whether many of these were even his fault. In the same way that Schumacher can’t be blamed for his early season car failures.

          3. Of course it does. Are you that naive enough to still be sitting on the fence as to whether or not the majority of these incidents are his fault??

            If you were Fernando Alonso in Belgium and you watched Grojean’s car miss your head by inches then I’m pretty sure you’d want his incidents discussed too.

            And for the record, I never doubted his pace, I think he’s very quick and he also comes across as a really nice guy which makes it more of a shame. However, if you log on to a website called F1fanatic then this should indicate you have some idea on Formula 1. For you to call this “over hyped” is quite honestly astonishing. I wonder what it would take for you to think these discussions were justified??

    2. Correct me if Im’ wrong here but I’m pretty sure Romain punted Badoer into a spin at Valencia in 2009 on the opening lap too. But I think he can be forgiven for that one as it was his first ever F1 race.

  3. Spa 2009 Grosjean takes out Button going into Les Combes at end of Kemel Straight – Romain Grosjean ran into the back of Jenson Button who in turn spun 180° and collided with Grosjean for a second time, causing them to both retire. Lewis Hamilton backed off after seeing the incidents ahead of him, which caused Jaime Alguersuari to run into him; both crashed into the barrier and retired.

  4. @ Bobby……Spooky great minds must think alike

    1. I can’t begin to tell you how cold it was to be camping in the mountains in Spa over the GP weekend. With the form that Jenson was having in the fairytail that was Brawn GP & Lewis having a shocking car but coming on form we were very much in for an exciting GP as a British fan at a historical track.

      We all know what happened & like I already said we didn’t get to see our boys drive past in racing trim because of said incidents.

      I am not so bold to say that no Rookie should come into F1 perfect. All F1 drivers make mistakes in the heat of battle but I’m sorry to say for Roman it has been too many times in such a short time in F1

  5. I think the risk is not so much in Romain causing so many incidents but his inability to avoid them, even if they were not initially his fault. The guys at the top of the grid are for the most part inch-perfect in wheel to wheel combat and are finely attuned to the risks.

    1. This.

      Although Keith makes a good case. I think Grosjean is taking a lot of the pain Maldonado should have suffered to be honest.

    2. I’m just happy someone came up with a fair counter argument.

  6. I agree, He’s not first and won’t be the last to have a spate of incidents.

    I can’t see the stewards necessarily being fair to him in the future.

  7. The Stewards are experts at adding breaches that are not supported by the rulebook – both technically and sportingly. It’s all about interpretation and due to the laughably disparate nature of refereeing in F1 there will always be room for misinterpretation and/or downright fabrication of rules as they see fit.

    1. I disagree. Read my comment below.

  8. Wil Buxton wrote something similar along these lines, finding most of the accusations unfair towards Romain. I don’t believe he included the 2009 Spa incident though.

  9. Not sure what your point is with this article. You can not have it both ways.

    On the end of the day; Grosjean did not cause all the incidences, but Grosjean WAS in all of the incidences. To say:

    if you are between two cars and the one on the right moves towards you, it leaves you the choice of waiting to be hit or moving left and hoping the other driver gets out of the way.

    No. There is one element you missed out and it is called “lift off”. If a driver is about to get sandwiched, they could try hitting the breaks. Alonso has done it on numerous occasions.

    Clearly, all drivers should be considered equal in the stewards’ eyes. Incident should not be punished a more severe way merely if they involve championship contenders.

    I disagree with your assumptions here. While that is indeed written in that sentence, I dont think the punishment to Grosjean was handed simply because a championship contender was involved, but it was handed due to severity of the incident and repetitive carelessness. In fact I think Stewards did the right thing with decision and perhaps they need to be more careful with how they explain their decisions. But if you are questioning whether the resulting consequence of an incident should determine the punishment, well yes it should! There are many sports in which, when a player makes an offence, the resulting consequence of that offence determines the severity of the punishment. It happens in Rugby, football .. you name it. Eg. punishment given for a foul could be anywhere from a free kick, a reprimand and/or a reportable offence which could also result in a suspension and even a fine!

    1. @maksutov

      Not sure what your point is with this article

      Someone sends in a question, I try to answer it.

      1. @keithcollantine,
        I agree with @maksutov.

        @maksutov: Not sure what your point is with this article.

        Exactly my thoughts!

        @keithcollantine: Someone sends in a question, I try to answer it.

        sorry, but this is no answer, all you managed to do was ‘start’ another discussion on grosjean’s antics. Definitely not upto your standards! :-(

        One of the main reasons I visit f1fanatic site, is because along with the other interesting comments by visitors, there is usually an ‘intelligent’ analysis by a bloke who knows his f1 top-down, and not just bottom-up.

        Most disappointing was that you never took a clear side. Even if this article was in response to a request, you never made an actual ‘review’, and seemed to have just collated otherwise distributed information and made an opinion.

        You could have zeroed in on a particular trait of Grosjean in such words as “In every crash of grojean’s, one trait is common, is that he has always crashed when the driver immediately ahead in the grid fails to make a clean getaway. So, it could be possible that such opportunities suddenly invigorate the maniac nerves of an otherwise easy starting grosjean….”

        Your time, in collating the information, is appreciated…however, justice to this topic can only be achieved by some real analysis, and not just opinion. Hope i have not overstepped my invite at f1fanatic!

        1. Guess he is a paying customer!

        2. “In every crash of grojean’s, one trait is common, is that he has always crashed when the driver immediately ahead in the grid fails to make a clean getaway. ”

          It seems that way doesn’t it. Grosjean’s problem is that he doesn’t know when to give up or “yield”. It is every drivers job to try and “avoid” an incident (that also includes avoiding the probability of triggering an incident) and frankly Grosjean doesn’t try hard enough. Results speak for itself. If every driver on the grid had the same approach as Grosjean, we would never see the end of the race.

          1. @maksutov

            It seems that way doesn’t it

            Yes. In many ways, it reminds me of the advice almost every narrator on a dog show keeps repeating – “Avoid running when confronted by a canine, it sparks his instincts to chase (and bite you)”.
            so, if you are starting ahead of grosjean, hope and pray that you dont have wheelspin! R U listening Alonso? ;-)

        3. all you managed to do was ‘start’ another discussion on grosjean’s antics.

          I know right? How dare an F1 journalist and blog writer dare start a discussion on one of the hot topics of the last week!

          Hahaha oh wait, that’s his job ;D

          1. Totally disagree. Usually Keith makes good impartial reviews, in this case he put fires on the grosjean issue, like a judgment frm tabloid.
            you compare before shu technical issues with starts of Grosjean, why not compare Schu’s starts from last year, the man who overtook the most? We said it is normal because due to his poor position. Now we can say that there are people who start frm the midfield brillantely and those who crash because they are in the midfield ( Keith argument below the picture).
            the steward had a very poor argument using race contenderd, but come on, it is a simple mystake from men who issue statements without 10 guys to say sth politically correct, the ban was well deserved because of the consequences, consequences govern our lives, this is a common fact. 3 or 4 other important argument where discussed just above to say that grosjean has a real problem and the Keith article was oriented, and this is very rare, hope it will not be a trend, because it is a pleasure to read these articlesand the comments too

      2. What more can a man do

  10. NOTIFICATION: I like Grosjean, this may affect my point of view on this.
    After the ban was announced, I wondered… What if I travelled back in time (before the GP) and asked them their opinion on Romain Grosjean? I assume it would be completely different. Sadly, I don’t have a timemachine…
    I can’t decide on most incidents however, since F1 videos/ onboards are pretty difficult to come by.
    However, I think that I can safely say we can rule out Australia and Monaco. In Australia, Maldonado turned in on him. And in Monaco, he got squeezed into Schumacher by Alonso. Basically Alonso Grosjean’d before it was a cool. Anyway, I hope this has been found useful!

    1. @infinitygc Actually, I looked at the Monaco incident yesterday a few times, and Buxton made the same excuse for Grosjean. Ditto @keithcollantine as below

      The Monaco crash had most in common with the Spa collision, as it began when Grosjean moved into the path of another rival. But in mitigation, Grosjean was moving left to avoid Alonso.

      That’s true up to a point, and on first replay, I agreed.

      But, if you go back a little bit before the collision with Schumacher, you’ll see something more disturbing: At the start, he did exactly the same thing he did in Spa. He drove right, all the way across the track, with an empty track in front of him, where he would be on the “better” line into St. Devote. Why? To pressure Alonso against the wall. After he did that, Schumacher saw a huge expanse of track in front of him, and used it. Alonso came back across to get away from the wall. This left Grosjean trying to get back to the left, into his original space – which was now occupied by Schumacher.

      So while Grosjean was the meat in a first-corner sandwich, it was a sandwich he made. All he had to do was stick to his line, and he would have lead Alonso into St. Devote. But just like Spa, he felt the need not only to try and beat a rival to the corner, but to try and barge him before they ever got there.

      Unfortunate? Yes. Forgivable? Certainly. But innocent? No. More importantly, he didn’t learn from it. At Monaco, it was bumping wheels. The same strategy at Spa almost killed someone.

      That’s what’s troubling about Grosjean. Not the specific incidents themselves, it’s the pattern of driving and attitude/ability that they indicate. Anyone can have a racing incident. Not everyone can have a racing incident every other race. Nor can everyone have the same problems for years in junior categories, and then continue them into not a rookie season, but a second season in F1.

      1. Thank you for the insight into that incident!

      2. I liked your analysis, and it really looks like Grosjean moved to block Alonso when you see from Michael’s onboard start, but i examined further and found evidence on the contrary. Look at the following two videos:
        This is of Grosjean’s onboard start http://youtu.be/x90zXuS1xKc
        And this is onboard start of Michael from 2004 monaco gp http://youtu.be/cjKRnIxoTSQ

        Both started from FOURTH on the grid, so same reference points.

        Now it doesnt look as if Grosjean tried to force Alonso into the wall, its almost the same line as Michael’s from 2004.

        Things really turned when Alonso’s tire touched Grosjean’s, that was the trigger point for the accident in my opinion, so at best a Racing Incident.

        I myself am critical of Grosjean, but monaco incident isnt one of the reason, IMHO

    2. The ‘time machine’ idea was a good one. I guess the closest you could manage would be to look at comments post Germany and see how many people were complaining about Grosjean’s record, calling him a danger etc at that point. I haven’t done it but I’d love to see if anyone on here was expressing such an opinion prior to Spa.

  11. I think once Martin Brundle said something about how karting is so great for teaching drivers spacial awareness and how exactly to position your car on the track.

    Maybe Ro Gro needs more of that?

    THe fact is, the art of the start is putting yourself in an aggressive position while not compromising your self. Ro Gro doesn’t seem to have a knack for that. Now, in many of those instances, I don’t feel he should be punished, but regardless, he seems to have much to learn about how to make a good start!

  12. When two F1 drivers race wheel to wheel and wheels even overlap the race commentators normally gush about the fantastic skill of the best drivers in the world driving at 200 mph etc. At Spa two cars had wheels overlapping and nothing happened until one of the cars slowed down and allowed their wheels to touch which then triggered the accident.
    Did anyone else see it like that?.

    1. Well one of them had to slow down, there was a corner approaching.

      1. Certainly they all needed to slow down but one driver slowed down more than all of those around him triggering the event. I’m also not sure that it was time to brake yet…. Only one driver had a clear view of the overlap situation and had the power (and reputed skill) to avoid the tyres touching each other and he chose to brake. He still had about 1.5 meters of clear track on his right which he could have used to avoid the overlap. He chose not to use it. Entering a corner the car in front brakes before a car behind. Clearly this wasn’t the case at Spa between LH and RG. I think if LH is as good as he says he is, he could have jinked right and saved his race day.

    2. Hamilton kept it going with the above mentioned fantastic skill – for as long as he could, being squeezed more and more. When he finally ran out of tarmac he could no longer keep it going, while Grosjean truly believed that he was clear in front of Hamilton, so kept moving towards the grass. Hamilton can in this incident be put in the category of best drivers in the world, which – in this incident – doesn’t apply to Grosjean. When You look at his statistics and compare with Kimi (82 points vs. 157), then he should have started to learn something long before the Spa incident. Also @hairs tale above of the Monaco incident (which I didn’t see) talks a clear language – I’m with Webbers comment about “not on this level”.

      1. LH never ran out of tarmac

  13. Yeah, I agree that in some cases it wasn’t Grosjean’s fault. But the fact that he was involved in all those accidents is relevant. Even if it wasn’t 100% his fault, he could have done something to avoid them, probably . Grosjean takes a lot of risks at the start. I remember Valencia, for example. There was no contact, but he tried a risky manoeuvre.

    I think that he can sort out this problem. The fact is that all this pressure on him doesn’t seem to work. And I mean pressure from his team, from other drivers and from the media. Earlier this season Jean Alesi, who follows French drivers very close, said that Grosjean kept on crashing also because his team put too much pressure on him.

  14. Like someone mentioned above, the problem may not be so much that Grosjean causes accidents, but that he cannot avoid them. Take for example Kimi and Lewis after Lewis’ stop in Suzuka….Kimi turned out at the last second. He avoided an accident.I Is Grosjean capable of doing that? Would other drivers have avoided accidents if they were if Romain’s shoes?

    I honestly think Grosjean didn’t warrant a ban in Hungary just because he almost killed a driver. His mistake was harmless really – the consequence not so, but in the world of F1, most things are of of your control anyway.

    The thing is, Romain has been involved in incidents FAR too often. It cannot be a mere coincidence can it? I think Romain just has to be more aware of his surroundings. In Suzuka, he claims to have crashed into Mark cause he was watching Perez. If Ham, Rai or Alo were in his shoes, would they have crashed? No. Point made.

    1. look in spa grosgean didn’t know webber gonna brake early that ‘s it.
      just give him a one or two years he will be a expert driver.

      1. @umar:
        I think You mean Suzuka, and Webber didn’t brake unusually early or anything. It was a clear case of Grosjean not having simultaneous capacity to both watch Perez and brake in time.
        The fact that You see the drivers in front of Webber pull a gap is because it is a gap in meters, but not in time. When they accelerate out of a corner the speed increases and it looks like they pull out a gap to the driver behind, but if You look at the time-space between the drivers it is the same as in the corner or before the corner. I was made aware of this fact by user Mads.

      2. @umarbaloch

        “just give him a one or two years he will be a expert driver.”

        1 or 2 years of 8 or more 1st lap incidents & he’ll come good . . . .

        Are you serious. I don’t know any team including HTR that would go with those odds. Joker

        1. Yeah a meant suzuka but he had no where to go on his left side it was perez and at front it was webber

  15. He has caused the Malaysian, Belgian and Japanese crashes and maybe the British one.

  16. I have an additional Question to all users: If Grosjean doesn’t cause incidents in the next 5 races, would you let him keep his seat, and if not, with whom would replace him?

    1. @infinitygc
      Interesting thought.
      Personally I would definitely keep him in that case. He has, surprisingly often, shown speed which has left a world champion trailing in his wake. That said, qualifying was never really Kimi’s speciality and he has after all been away for some time. So I don’t think that he is the next big thing. I don’t think he is ‘that’ fast. Nor does he seem to learn and develop as a driver very well. Which is very important for a top driver.
      But compared to the midfield drivers, then I am quite sure that he is one of the quickest and if he can gain some consistency, then I am pretty sure that he could be a very strong card to have.
      If he on the other hand does have more accidents, then I think Kobayashi would be a good bet. He is good, and considering that McLaren think that Perez is suitable for what could be a championship contending car, then I think that Kobayashi would be able to bear the burden of a pretty fast Lotus.

      1. That’s not a bad idea actually! How about Heikki Kovalainnen actually? You’d think he’d do good?

  17. Kimi, please have a word with RoGro and tell him how to avoid accidents. I want to see him in F1 next year too, and he, like many other drivers, could learn so much from you.

    1. @rudi
      I think the best explanation you can expect from Kimi is something along the lines of;

      don’t crash…

      1. Short, clear, true. Hope RoGro reads it.

    2. @rudi But Kimi doesn’t care about the other drivers. :P

  18. I predicted Grosjean wiping out the front runners @ Suzuka, fortunately he only took out Webber. To be frank, I think this article is a bit soft on Grosjean. I agree they weren’t all his fault. However I’m not sure how you can defend Monaco, he moved *way* too much. Way more than just avoiding Alonso. You can’t do that on a small street circuit.

    I would say most of the accidents have involved him being too over eager at the start. Last weeks was the opposite, but he should have been aware of Webber infront of him.

  19. You might call it a discussion raised by others but I call it a head hunt for those who spend to much time on the interweb and really should spend more time in the fresh air. Get a life…

  20. Well forget about this and lets focus on the race

  21. Great article @keithcollantine and it shares many of my views. At Spa he did deserve to be punished for that, it was just plain silly however I felt he got a rough deal in Japan. It was at most a racing incident and it has to be expected when 24 cars try to travel around one corner within 5s of each other. It was certainly no worse than the Alonso/Raikkonen incident.

    My fear is that this guy will not be allowed to make any mistakes from now on, which is impossible. He should perhaps cool his driving off a little fore the rest of the season, if only appease to the average fan and the media but next year I want to see him on a level playing field.

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