Romain Grosjean is focused on recovering enough from his injuries to compete in next weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, according to Haas boss Guenther Steiner.
The Frenchman was fortunate to walk away with only burns on his hands and ankles following a horrific crash last Sunday in Bahrain, which saw his car burst into flames after a 53G impact with the barriers at 137mph, according to reports.
After being taken to hospital for treatment following the accident, Grosjean has been posting updates via social media, including one on Monday in which he said he was “loving life”.
And though Haas has confirmed Romain will be replaced by Pietro Fittipaldi for this weekend’s second race, this time on Bahrain’s Outer Circuit, Steiner says the 34-year-old does want to end his Formula 1 career with one more drive next weekend at Yas Marina.
“Yes, absolutely. That is his aim now: to heal up because he wants to do Abu Dhabi,” the told The Race.
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“Yesterday he was mentally very stable, very good about it. The guy with him today he says he’s in very good spirits again and he just tries to get better to be in the car in Abu Dhabi.
“That shows that he wants to keep on doing it.”
It was expected that Grosjean would be discharged on Tuesday but that has now been pushed back an extra 24 hours until Wednesday.
“It’s just maybe better to stay a night longer to make the healing quicker,” said Steiner, who denied there was any “setback” in his recovery.
The Haas boss also revealed Grosjean’s memory certainly after the crash remains clear, as he explained his escape from the car “very well”.
And although he did ask what initially caused the crash, Steiner thinks “he didn’t realise what he did – I wouldn’t say that he lost any memory of it”.
Certainly, after a decade on the grid, it would be much better to see Grosjean get a proper send-off in Abu Dhabi, rather than his final memory being climbing out of a fiery wreck.