Romain Grosjean says his postponed Mercedes Formula 1 test drive is “still on the horizon” following a recent chat with Toto Wolff.
The IndyCar convert was offered a ride in Mercedes’ 2019 W10 car by Wolff after Grosjean’s F1 career was cut short after a huge crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020.
Grosjean was briefly trapped in his Haas and suffered severe burns in the incident, causing him to miss the final two races of what would already be his last in F1 as Haas selected a rookie line-up of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin for 2021.
The Mercedes demo test offered by Wolff was scheduled to take place during the French Grand Prix weekend in May last year, with a full run scheduled two days after the race, but a change in the date of that event meant it would be with the Road America IndyCar -Round collided.
Speaking at IndyCar’s traditional media day on Monday, ahead of a season he will begin with his new team Andretti Autosport after moving from Dale Coyne Racing, Grosjean spoke positively about his chances of stepping into a Mercedes.
“I sent a message to Toto in Abu Dhabi [F1’s season finale in December] – Well, I let it sit for a couple of weeks, let a couple of weeks go by and then I sent a message to Toto and he replied,” said Grosjean.
“It started with ‘Thank you’ and then the last sentence was ‘We have to put you in this car this year’.
“So yes, it’s still in sight.
“There were a few things over the last year that didn’t make it easy.”
Grosjean didn’t say when a prospective test could take place, although the 2022 French Grand Prix weekend is also out of the question as it clashes with the IndyCar round in Iowa.
“But definitely, yes, Mercedes are very interested, I’m interested even if my neck will die because I’ve lost some of the muscle there,” he added.
“You can ask Pato [O’Ward, who spoke of the pain in his neck after testing McLaren’s car recently] how it was.
“Yeah, we still want to do it. And when it happens, great, but the main focus now is winning races with Andretti.”
Grosjean finished 15th in the IndyCar Championship last year – after missing three oval races on his part program – but scored two podiums and also a pole position at the Indianapolis street circuit.
In 2022 he will contest the full calendar including the Indy 500 for the first time.
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