Romain Grosjean is back in a race car for the first time since his fiery F1 crash

Romain Grosjean moves to NTT IndyCar Series for the 2021 campaign

Romain Grosjean is a lucky man. He survived the type of wreck that very few people can claim to walk away from, but there he was on Tuesday behind the wheel of a single-seater once again. The 34-year-old turned his first laps since his Formula 1 season ended at Bahrain International Circuit last November, but it was not in an F1 livery.

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The Geneva, Switzerland native, moves to IndyCar for the 2021 season and joins Dale Coyne Racing with RWR. He will handle all twelve street and road course events in the 17-race schedule. Romain Grosjean tested at Barber Motorsports Park, the same venue where the NTT IndyCar Series will have its first points-paying race. The season was supposed to open on the streets of St. Petersburg, but officials had COVID-19 concerns and moved it to Apr. 25.

“I don’t feel like a superhero, I feel like a dad that has done what he had to do to go and see his kids.” @RGrosjean tells @AmandaDCNN about his horrific crash last year at the Bahrain Grand Prix.👉https://t.co/EnPubQSIS6 pic.twitter.com/U745KGGt40

— CNN Sport (@cnnsport) February 22, 2021

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Grosjean’s left hand remains a concern. He suffered burns on both his hands, and underwent an additional surgery to fix a thumb ligament injury on his left hand. He addressed these concerns in a press conference.

“There’s a nice big blister on my left thumb, which is not pretty," he said. “It’s actually done very well. I had a big snap on the last run, and that was a bit painful. I expect those. I know it’s not fully recovered and is sensitive. But driving-wise it was okay. It was not painful. I was being a little bit careful on some of the curves, but generally it hasn’t been a limitation.”

“After the first run my biceps started hurting a bit, and I thought: ‘OK, OK. Now we’re talking.’ You really feel the car. I guess you can drive it a little bit more with your driving style with the way you apply the brake and your turning and so on. You can actually use different lines, whereas in Formula One, you may be more stuck to the ideal line because of how the aerodynamics work.”

Let's go 💯💯💯@DaleCoyneRacing @IndyCar pic.twitter.com/EyZnQ6voRF

— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) February 23, 2021

Romain Grosjean is a Formula 1 veteran, getting ten podiums in his ten seasons in the series. He first joined the series for seven races with the ING Renault F1 Team in 2009 at the age of 23.