A focus on mistakes has given “super-quick” Romain Grosjean a false reputation, his teammate Kevin Magnussen believes.
The Frenchman has likely competed in his final Formula 1 race after injuries sustained in a horrific crash last month in Bahrain prevented him competing in the final two Grands Prix of this season.
It is hoped, once the burns on his hands have healed, that Grosjean will get a final chance, with Mercedes already offering a private test in one of their cars.
Still, at the Abu Dhabi GP, Magnussen, who himself is racing for the final time in F1 before moving to IMSA next year, praised Grosjean.
“What I experienced with Romain is an incredibly fast driver on one lap,” he said via RaceFans. “Not that he’s not quick in the race, he’s super-quick in the race as well. But especially on one lap, he’s something special.
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“Having him as a benchmark, especially in qualifying, has really made me a better qualifier. You seriously need to get it right to beat Romain in qualifying. It’s hard to imagine that anyone can be much quicker than him because on his day he’s phenomenal in one lap.
“Formula 1 is funny because I think Romain has made some mistakes in the last few years that have gained a lot of attention and taken away from him some of the credit he should have been given for his abilities in the car.
“My personal feeling is there’s not a lot of people that can be faster than him on one lap.”
It is true that, while Grosjean has 10 podiums to his name, he was more known for crashing, notably receiving a race ban after causing a Turn 1 pile-up at Spa in 2012, as well as crashing behind the Safety Car and even in the pit-lane in recent years.
Still, his biggest accident in Bahrain instantly led to an outpouring of support from fans.
And while former Lotus teammate Kimi Raikkonen rather proved Magnussen’s point by suggesting he could be “a bit all over the place”, the 2007 world champion says his health now is the most important thing.
“I think everybody’s happy to see that he got out of the bad situation more or less okay,” said Raikkonen.
“I’m sure it would have been much nicer for him to finish his F1 in a different way but that’s how it unfortunately turned out to be. The good thing is he’s okay and that’s the only thing that matters.”