Grosjean Makes Emotional Return in Haas VF‑23

Romain Grosjean made an emotional return to an F1 cockpit at Mugello, driving Haas’s 2023 VF‑23 in a Testing of Previous Cars session — his first time in an F1 car since the fiery 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix crash that split his car and left him with burns. He wore the helmet his children had designed for the Abu Dhabi 2020 farewell he missed, completed standing starts and said he felt rusty at first but “everything came back.” On his final in‑lap Haas and former colleagues — including Ayao Komatsu and staff from Ferrari, Red Bull and Pirelli — gave him an ovation that reduced Grosjean to tears. The outing, arranged by Gene Haas and Komatsu as part of the TPC/Pirelli test programme, also featured guests such as James Hinchcliffe and, Haas said, will feed into the team’s ongoing development. Grosjean, who moved to IndyCar and endurance racing after leaving F1, described the day as a long‑awaited closure to his F1 story.