(Motorsport-Total.com) – Romain Grosjean has publicly apologized to McLaren and team principal Zak Brown. The former Formula 1 driver had criticized Brown’s statements about Oscar Piastri during the Spanish GP, but had misunderstood them.
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The Frenchman, who now works as a Formula 1 expert for Canal+, was on site at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid. During the live broadcast on Sunday, he expressed criticism of supposed statements by McLaren team principal Zak Brown.
Grosjean initially assumed that Brown had downgraded Piastri’s performance compared to his teammate Lando Norris after qualifying. “I saw a statement from Zak Brown about Lando’s lap. He cut Oscar Piastri to pieces there with scissors and a chainsaw,” Grosjean said at first.
Grosjean criticizes supposed statements
Norris had secured pole position at the Madrid circuit on Saturday. “If Piastri still had any morale, then he has none now,” Grosjean continued. He particularly criticized the supposed harshness of Brown’s statements.
“The harshness, the violence of this statement … The question was that Norris had a good qualifying and he was asked how he explains the difference. Basically, he said that Lando is a world champion and better than Oscar,” said Grosjean.
The Frenchman then referred to last season and the internal team decisions at McLaren. “He somehow forgot that Oscar led the world championship last year, that he was asked in Monza to let Lando pass, and that at that time it might not necessarily have been the right decision. It was surprising, very surprising, and I was speechless when I heard this statement.”
Brown had said something else
The problem: Brown had not made these statements at all. Grosjean had misunderstood the McLaren team principal’s remarks from an interview after qualifying on F1 TV. The spicy detail is that Grosjean himself was present during the conversation with Juan Pablo Montoya and Jolyon Palmer.
Brown had initially praised Norris’s qualifying lap. “The entire lap was incredible and Lando is getting better and better. When you see how such a lap is driven, you just think: ‘He is a world champion.'”
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When Montoya asked about the performance difference between the two McLaren drivers, Brown explained: “I think, first of all, Lando was on his absolute A-game, right? So I don’t think there was any more time left on the track. He found this lap.”
Grosjean apologizes publicly
“Oscar was right behind him all weekend and just didn’t catch the same extra lap. We will look into it further. He will look at the data and probably, like all of us, say: ‘Wow, what a lap,'” Brown added.
Grosjean’s statements during the live broadcast did not go unnoticed and were widely shared and discussed, especially on social media. On Sunday evening, the Frenchman clarified that he had indeed misinterpreted Brown’s statements.
“Today on Canal+ I commented on Zak Brown’s statements about Oscar Piastri during an interview yesterday on F1 TV, which I was present at myself. I completely misunderstood his words and want to apologize for that,” Grosjean wrote.
Praise for McLaren despite bad luck
“I know how important it is to Zak and the entire McLaren team to respect their drivers and treat them fairly and equally,” the Frenchman continued.
Grosjean also made it clear that McLaren had the fastest car in Madrid and had bad luck due to the Virtual Safety Car phase. For Norris and Piastri, he already sees another opportunity to fight for victory at the upcoming Grand Prix in Baku.
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