“The ’86/’87 generation was the wrong one to be in”- Romain Grosjean thinks the mentioned generation of drivers were unlucky

“The ’86/’87 generation was the wrong one to be in”- Romain Grosjean feels the people of his generation in Formula 1 was unfortunate.

Romain Grosjean’s time in Formula 1 will be over after the completion of the last three races this season, as Haas has announced his separation from the team along with current teammate Kevin Magnussen.

With this, no other team has come into offer a contract to Grosjean which means his exit from the F1 club is imminent, on which Grosjean has shed some light.

“I think next year definitely I won’t be racing in Formula 1,” he said to the RaceFans. “Never say never but it looks like the grid is full and there isn’t any seat,”

“Does that mean that in the future there won’t be any seat opening? I don’t know. But for now, I know that most likely or 99.9% I won’t be racing in Formula 1 next year.”

“Maybe the only regret that I have is that Lotus went bankrupt in 2014,” said Grosjean. “After a brilliant 2013 we were on the path of going somewhere well, and I didn’t get an offer from a top team at that time.

“Kimi went to Ferrari and I stayed at Lotus and we just went down. It’s very hard to recover when you’ve been in a team that is close to the back of the field.”

“Then I took the Haas challenge, which was a great experience as well. But sadly last two years we didn’t quite get up to speed or engage second after a great start. I guess that’s the only regret.”

Were unlucky along with his generation of drivers

Grosjean has further claimed that drivers of his age, except Sebastian Vettel, were unlucky as the drivers who were on the brink to end their careers didn’t move to accommodate the new generation.

“If I think about it, maybe the ’86/’87 generation was the wrong one to be in. Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg, myself, even Sebastien Buemi a little bit.”

“We all came at a time when the top seats were taken, the old guys wouldn’t leave Formula 1 yet and the young ones just came after and we kind of never really got our chance. It’s just the way it is, there’s not much you can control about that.”

“Being 10 years in Formula 1 has been incredible and I think I’ve achieved what I wanted to. Obviously, you always want to be world champion, but you discover that with without the right tool, there’s no chance.”

“Hopefully that will change in the future because I think it would bring Formula 1 in a much better place if it wasn’t just dominated by a team – which is doing an incredible job, absolutely beautiful – but also a bit sad for the racing part where they are just too strong for the others.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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