David Coulthard admits 37-year-old’s early F1 career was full of incidents

Follow us on Google Discover

David Coulthard has admitted that the start of Romain Grosjean’s Formula 1 career was full of incidents.

The Frenchman enjoyed successful spells with Renault, Lotus and Haas before departing F1 in 2020.

Speaking on the Formula For Success Podcast, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan discussed the 37-year-old’s time on the grid.

Romain Grosjean was one of the most prolific drivers in junior formulas before making the step up to Formula 1.

He won the Formula 3 Euro Series, GP2 Asia Series and Auto GP before getting the call-up from Renault midway through the 2009 campaign.

The Frenchman replaced Nelson Piquet Jr. as Fernando Alonso’s teammate for seven races before being replaced by Vitaly Petrov.

He failed to score a point during his cameos with Renault but did struggle to keep his car on track at times.

Grosjean halted practice in Singapore after losing control of his car and was involved in a big shunt with Jenson Button during his second Grand Prix in Belgium.

Coulthard recalled that Grosjean had plenty of incidents during his time in F1.

He’s well known for two particular crashes during his career, another at Spa that earned him a ban, and a terrifying collision in Bahrain that ultimately ended his Formula 1 career.

Coulthard says Grosjean was well-known for incidents during early F1 career

Talking about other drivers who weren’t shy of a bit of contact, Coulthard said: “There were a lot of drivers who got a reputation for being crashers.

“Andrea ‘de Crasharis’ de Cesaris who is sadly no longer with us.

“[Romain] Grosjean in his early career in Formula 1 got involved in more than his fair share of incidents!”

Eddie Jordan added: “Oh my god!”

Coulthard went on to say: “We saw it last year, someone’s put together a little stat of all the accident damage and I think poor Logan Sargeant was up there as one of the most expensive drivers.”

Logan Sargeant might not mind being compared to Grosjean by Coulthard if he can follow his career path after several early incidents in his career.

The American held onto his seat on the grid by the skin of his teeth, while Grosjean had to spend two years on the sidelines before his f1 career really took off.

Sargeant won’t want to take a sabbatical although it’s already looking difficult for him to retain his seat in 2025.

But the joy of Formula 1 is that anything can happen and he’s now got an important year of experience under his belt heading into pre-season testing in Bahrain next month.