Watch: "That guy's a punk!" - Ex-Haas F1 driver hits IndyCar rival twice 'on purpose'
American IndyCar driver Graham Rahal was left livid after former Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean hit his car twice at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday.
On the team radio, Rahal sounded absolutely furious, claiming that Grosjean hit him on purpose. He was heard saying:
“That guy's a punk! He hit me on purpose.”
"That guy's a punk! He hit me ON PURPOSE!"
@GrahamRahal is NOT HAPPY with @RGrosjean! 🍿
#INDYCAR https://t.co/YVFTeBCfx1
After the race, Graham spoke to NBC Sports about the incident, emphasizing that this is not the first time drivers have experienced this with the former F1 driver. The 33-year-old said:
“Just watch the in-car camera and the angle of his head. So I knew Romain [Grosjean] was going to dive-bomb me because I was already warned that’s what he was doing. We’re going straight, why are you turning into me? I’m just frustrated because this isn’t the first time. At St. Pete, he hit everybody he could hit. We come here, he hit [Alexander] Rossi, [Colton] Herta, hit me. At some point, we should clean up our act.”
"We're learning his reputation quickly here."
@GrahamRahal on the aggressive driving by Romain Grosjean. #INDYCAR https://t.co/npX514IUzB
Referring to what an unnamed peer told him, Graham said:
“I won’t name him, but as another driver in the series told me, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. It’s kind of been [Grosjean’s] reputation over his whole career in Europe [most notably in Formula One] and we’re learning his reputation quickly here. So to me, if race control doesn’t want to do anything, they’re not going to do anything. But when we go punt him, they better not do anything to me, which in the past, I’ve been penalized for a lot less than that.”
@RGrosjean said what he said.
What do you think of this move Grosjean pulled on @GrahamRahal?
#INDYCAR // #HIGPA // @BarberMotorPark https://t.co/ccCVZkZm3l
Meanwhile, Grosjean explained his side of the incident post-race, saying:
“Yeah, we touched a couple of times but it was good racing. It was tough out there Barber is a very good track but very hard to pass, especially when you’re in a train. … It’s good racing, I guess it’s IndyCar with action.”
The Frenchman finished the race in seventh while Rahal finished eighth behind him.
"It is a good position" - Haas boss on their 2022 F1 driver line-up
Haas F1 team boss Guenther Steiner recently claimed that it would be beneficial for Mick Schumacher to have Kevin Magnessun as a reference, given his talent and experience in the sport.
As reported by PlanetF1, Steiner revealed that Magnessun has become a mentor of sorts to the German, saying:
“As I always say, it is always good to have someone like him for Mick [Schumacher] so he can take him as a reference. Even if Kevin [Magnussen] is still young, he has done this for quite a long time now and he is very mature so he tries to help Mick out because he knows he is here to work for the team. It is a good position for Mick to be in to have somebody like Kevin who is very fair and gives him all the information. You can learn a lot yourself, but if you have got a teacher, it goes a lot quicker.”
Schumacher is yet to score his first F1 championship point, while the Dane got off to a great start in 2022.