IndyCar driver Graham Rahal claims Romain Grosjean has "overstayed his welcome" after a contentious battle on Sunday in Alabama.
The former Formula 1 driver has enjoyed a career renaissance in America, claiming a pole position and four podiums since debuting at the start of last year, earning himself a legion of fans in the process.
However, after pushing teammate Colton Herta towards the pit wall early on in Barber, Grosjean then earned the wrath of Rahal after barging his way past at the hairpin in the closing laps.
"That guy's a punk! He hit me ON PURPOSE!"@GrahamRahal is NOT HAPPY with @RGrosjean! 🍿 #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/YVFTeBCfx1
— IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 1, 2022
“Good racing with Colton, Scotty [McLaughlin], good racing with a lot [of drivers]," he told IndyCar Radio post-race.
"Just one particular guy not so clean. We’re gonna have to have a little sit down; a little conversation, about what the hell is going on here.
“I think the drivers need to get together — all of us — because I’m not the only one with a problem. It’s quite a significant number of drivers that have had run-ins with this guy.
"As I said on TV, when the roles are reversed, officiating had better be consistent because it’s gonna be reversed at some stage. I’m not gonna play nice. This guy has overstayed his welcome.”
Of course, those who followed Grosjean's career in F1 know he was known for causing incidents, including getting a race ban after triggering a multi-car pile-up at the start of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.
At one point, Mark Webber even called the Frenchman a "first-lap nutcase" and Rahal wasn't afraid to recall Romain's past.
“I’ll let you guys decide but as another driver in the series told me, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,’ and it’s kind of been his reputation over his whole career over in Europe and we’re learning his reputation quickly here,” he added.
“So, to me, if race control doesn’t want to do anything then they’re not going to do anything, but when we go and punt him they better not do anything to me — which, in the past, I’ve been penalized for a lot less than that.”
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Grosjean nonchalantly responded to the criticism, however,
“Yeah, we touched a couple of times but it was good racing,” he claimed. “It was tough out there; just, you know, Barber is a very good track but it is very hard to pass, especially when you’re a train.
"If the car in front of you doesn’t have anyone in front then you can try a different line, but they were all in line, so it was quite tricky.
“So, here we touch a bit, and then here we touch again so it’s good racing. I guess it’s IndyCar — wheel-to-wheel action!”
