F1: Haas Grosjean done enough?

Romain Grosjean’s Formula 1 career has been plagued by incidents with continuing controversy in his wheel-to-wheel racing which is still a major weakness for the now 33-year old Frenchman. But now in his third season racing with the Haas F1 Team and lacking the race craft, leadership and dynamism that the American outfit demands, has Grosjean done enough to retain his seat yet again as Formula 1’s silly season gets into full swing? 

Having competed in 154 Formula 1 Grand Prix, Grosjean is one of the sport’s most illustrious veterans. But ten years on from his debut at the 2009 European GP at the Valencia Street Circuit with Renault, Grosjean is palpable and prone to mistakes. Wth drivers younger, more exciting and more talented available to Haas, surely after a second year of poor performances, the American outfit will look elsewhere for 2020. 

Grosjean was the star of the show when he joined the team in 2016, finishing sixth on the team’s maiden race in Australia, quickly followed by a fifth-placed finish at the following race in Bahrain. But since then, things have quickly turned sour within Haas between the team’s management and the Frenchman. 

Last year things almost reached boiling point when the Frenchman went the first eight races without scoring a single point and only finished in the points seven times in a car that was top ten material on practically every weekend. After yet another retirement after the 2018 British GP, Team Principal of the Haas F1 Team said: 

“I support Romain and that’s my duty, because I care about the success of the team. How long will it go on? I don’t know when the critical moment will come.

“It has not yet arrived, but at some point we must stop losing points. This is extremely important. In the first half of the season, we lost too many points due to our own mistakes – it’s unacceptable.” – Gunther Steiner

Last year it was judged that he had done enough to retain his seat. But with his performances in 2019 being no better, where does that leave Haas? 

The American team are in a desperate state of mind with the outfit testing the Australian GP spec and an updated race spec in the past two Grand Prix after Grosjean and Magnussen crashed on the opening lap of the British GP to see where their development has gone wrong this year. So with all his experience, it was thought that Grosjean would be the man to lead them out of this hole. But not only is the Frenchman a liability on-track, but his winey rants on the radio and his interviews are not useful for the future direction of the outfit. 

In recent weeks, there have been substantive rumours that former-Force India driver and Mercedes AMG Petronas reserve driver Esteban Ocon is set to replace his fellow countryman for next year with the Silver Arrows poised to release him from his contract as part of their young drivers’ academy. After his fabulous performance in F1 while with Force India, it would be only right that Ocon replaces his fellow countryman.

Having said that, Grosjean was the man who risked everything to join Haas F1 Team back in 2016 and to help the American team be a force to be reckoned with in the Formula 1 midfield. But his team-mate Kevin Magnussen has proven to be the more solid force at the American team in the past two seasons. 

Therefore, with so many young, talented and prosperous drivers snapping at their heels to make it into Formula 1 or to return to the sport, it is inevitable that Grosjean’s time at Haas draws to a close. But no matter what seems right to happen, only Haas and Grosjean can make that a reality.