Grosjean praised the “cool” approach to the IndyCar career

Ian Parkes & Jan Bolscher

Tuesday, May 18, 2021, 3:28 p.m.

Romain Grosjean has been hailed by the driver who led him to victory over the weekend for his “cool” approach to his new IndyCar career.

In just his third race in the series after retiring from F1 at the end of last season, Grosjean clinched pole before being beaten by Dutch driver Rinus VeeKay by 4.9 seconds in the race.

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It was a remarkable achievement by Grosjean, with racing driver VeeKay declaring himself “very impressed” by the 35-year-old Frenchman’s performance in his second year.

“IndyCar is not a step back from Formula 1, far from it,” said VeeKay in an interview with the Dutch language website of GPFans after his first IndyCar win.

“It’s cool to see how he adjusts and how much he enjoys it. That’s the great thing about IndyCar. Everyone has a chance to win. It doesn’t matter which team you drive for.

“It’s very different in Formula One. He obviously couldn’t even think of winning a win with Haas.”

VeeKay highlighted one aspect of Grosjean’s F1 career that has benefited him so far at IndyCar.

“He has a lot of experience in tire management, you can see that he is very good at it,” added VeeKay.

“However, he has a different experience than us. IndyCar is very different from Formula 1. A lot more can happen in IndyCar, you have to be prepared for that.”

One of the notable aspects of VeeKay’s victory was that it has been five years since compatriot Max Verstappen won his first race in F1 on his debut with Red Bull by taking the checkered flag at the Spanish Grand Prix.

He jokingly suggested to VeeKay that May 15th should be a public holiday in the Netherlands and replied, “I think so! It’s really cool how random this is.

“Maybe it’s a sign that it’s going to be a very important date for the Netherlands. Five years after Max won Formula 1, I’m winning IndyCar. It’s very cool that it went like this.”