Haas team owner Gene Haas told Romain Grosjean to forget IndyCar and “stay home” after his crash in Bahrain last year.
The Frenchman returned to the track for the first time since his near-fatal accident in November last week, as he began preparations to race in all road course events in IndyCar this season.
After five years driving for his team in Formula 1, however, Haas revealed Grosjean had previously enquired into whether their association could continue into the American series.
“He had asked if we would be willing to sponsor him in IndyCar, and I think at the beginning I was pretty open to it,” he said via RACER.
“But then when he crashed in Bahrain, I was just so happy he didn’t kill himself. For someone who has just absolutely destroyed the car, I couldn’t be happier that he survived it.
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“I don’t know… he has a wife and three kids, and I just told him I couldn’t see giving him money to go out and kill himself. I just felt like he needs to stay home and take care of his family. He escaped the big one there,” Haas admitted.
“If you really understood what happened there… if that car had been a few degrees one way or the other, he wouldn’t have been able to get out through that hoop, and he would have died. So, extremely lucky.
“I just could not fathom having to face a widow or his kids. I just couldn’t do that. So I said ‘Nah, stay home, I can’t help you there anymore’.”
Of course, Grosjean has decided to push ahead with IndyCar, though did cite Bahrain as the reason for opting out of the oval races.
And Haas admits it is the 34-year-old’s prerogative to choose his next career step.
“You know, Grosjean’s a heck of a driver,” he said. “He has some really good days when I think he’s probably as good as any driver out there. He loves driving, and that’s his choice.
“I just don’t want to be part of the bad choice. I feel as lucky as he is to escape being killed. That was the luckiest day in the whole Haas F1 saga, that Grosjean managed to survive that and relatively unscathed.
“It wasn’t so terrifying in the fact that he jumped out, but the hoop was stuck between the guardrails. If that hoop was a little bit smaller then his helmet wouldn’t have fit through it and he would have died.
“He came very close. So I’m very happy. That was probably the happiest day in racing, was to see him jump out of that car.”
Away from IndyCar, Grosjean also confirmed he and Mercedes are close to arranging his final F1 test, which team boss Toto Wolff offered after his crash last year.
“I have had a phone call with them and we are finalising the plan,” he revealed. “I think it’s going to be mega.”
Due to current testing rules, it is expected Romain will drive either the 2018 or 2019 car when the opportunity comes.