Peter Windsor says 181-race F1 driver made some ‘bad decisions’ during his career

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Formula 1 expert Peter Windsor has admitted that former driver Romain Grosjean made some ‘bad decisions’ when it came to choosing which team to drive for.

Romain Grosjean had a career that spanned 181 races after making his debut at the 2009 European Grand Prix.

Speaking on the Short Corners Podcast, Windsor suggested his final move didn’t make much sense.

Windsor questions Grosjean career choices in Formula 1

Romain Grosjean rose through the junior formula series very quickly with plenty of championships to his name.

After winning the GP2 Asia Series in 2008, Grosjean replaced Nelson Piquet Jr. midway through the season the following year, driving alongside Fernando Alonso.

They clashed later on during Grosjean’s F1 career at Spa and he’s since shared the message the Spaniard sent him after he was banned for a race.

He was a test driver for Pirelli and Lotus for the next two years while he earned the GP2 Series crown and was finally offered a full-time seat at Lotus in 2012.

The 37-year-old finished on the podium 10 times in 76 races before leaving the team for the newly created Haas team in 2016.

Windsor has questioned why Grosjean decided to join Formula 1’s only current American team although Haas finished above Lotus – who had been renamed to Renault – that year.

Unfortunately, that’s the best it ever got for Grosjean who later admitted that Haas actually wanted to hire Nico Hulkenberg for that season.

Grosjean never given the chance to drive top F1 car

Speaking about the Frenchman’s career, Windsor said: “[Romain] Grosjean’s doing well [in IndyCar], it’s good to see. He made some bad decisions in his career as well.

“Why did he leave Renault to go to Haas? It didn’t make any sense.”

Grosjean was a very good Formula 1 driver but as Windsor suggests, he never seemed to earn the perfect opportunity to step up.

It’s hard to argue that Renault made the right decision to replace him with Jolyon Palmer and he’s driven alongside the other man to step into the team – Kevin Magnussen – for years at Haas.

His F1 career ultimately ended terrifyingly in Bahrain but thankfully he survived one of the scariest crashes in recent years.

To see him continuing to race in IndyCar is fantastic to see and after the first race this season, he currently sits 12^th in the championship.