Romain Grosjean is undergoing a skin graft on her left hand after an F1 crash

Romain Grosjean underwent a skin graft on his badly burned left hand on Tuesday, the latest step in his healing process after his fatal accident that ended his Formula 1 career – and took him from IndyCar last season – almost a year ago – Kept ovals away.

The sophomore IndyCar driver Andretti Autosport signed as Ryan Hunter-Reay’s replacement in the No. 28 DHL Honda, completed almost his entire Indianapolis 500 Rookie Orientation Program at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Oval 27 days ago before joining his family returned to Switzerland to prepare his wife (Marion) and three children (Sacha, Simon and Camille) for the family’s move to Miami in December.

Earlier, however, Grosjean had previously announced to IndyStar that he needed an additional operation that he described as a “fairly major operation” because of the second degree burns he sustained in his fiery accident in Bahrain on November 29, 2020.

“Everything’s fine,” he wrote in a text message to IndyStar on Tuesday evening, adding, “Should look fine when it’s all done.” Grosjean said his recovery process from the skin graft should take nearly a month, although such a schedule shouldn’t deter him from heading into the 2022 season with Andretti if he adopts a year-round calendar for a possible championship run.

Grosjean initially underwent a three-day hospital stay after his accident, during which he recorded more than 50 Gs at about 140 mph. His Haas F1 car was split in half after it slammed into the track’s safety barrier, and the Swiss-born Frenchman spent almost 30 seconds on fire before escaping on his own. After his first hospital stay, the former Dale Coyne Racing driver with Rick Ware Racing underwent surgery on December 15th to repair a damaged ligament on his left thumb.

Long before he announced his move to IndyCar, Grosjean documented his recovery for his fans on social media and posted a photo of his far less burned right hand with no bandage on December 28th. On January 7th, he celebrated his left hand unpacked for five straight hours. Three days later, he spent the whole day unpacking it, and on January 12, he posted photos of his two hands side by side to show the extent of the damage.

He announced his IndyCar offer on February 3rd when he described his left hand as “uglier than bad” and found that he had regained 90% of the strength in his hand through repeated work with a hand specialist in Geneva. At that time it was still quite stiff when he woke up, which he tried to alleviate with a medicated cream.

During his first IndyCar test at Barber on Feb.23, he said his hand was in no pain – neither from heavy use of his thumb nor from rubbing his burned skin against his racing gloves, although he suffered some major blisters.

More about Grosjean’s rookie IndyCar season:

With the help of three podiums including a pole and two runners-up on the IMS street course, Grosjean quickly allayed any worries that his November injuries could hold him back in his next chapter of his racing career, and he had publicly said that he was hoped the scars on his left hand would be almost gone by this month.

But the picture of them holding his 2nd place on the podium at the IMS in May went viral on a photo of IndyStar’s Grace Hollars. Grosjean posted the photo on Instagram with the caption: “It’s about never giving up.”

Email IndyStar motorsport reporter Nathan Brown at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown.