Romain Grosjean will make his long-awaited return to a Formula 1

Romain Grosjean will make his long-awaited return to a Formula 1 car on Friday, driving a 2023-spec Haas during a test at Mugello. It will be his first F1 outing since the dramatic 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix crash that engulfed his car in flames and left him with serious burns on both hands. That race turned out to be Grosjean’s 179th and final Grand Prix, before he moved to IndyCar in the United States, where he claimed six podiums and three poles across four seasons. 

Haas, Grosjean’s former team from 2016 to 2020, invited the Frenchman back for the Testing of Previous Car (TPC) session in the VF-23. Team Principal Ayao Komatsu, Grosjean’s former race engineer at Lotus, will reprise that role at Mugello. Komatsu said he was “absolutely thrilled” to see Grosjean return to Formula 1 in a Haas.