Romain Grosjean shares nine-word text Fernando Alonso sent him after horror crash in Spa in 2012

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Romain Grosjean has shared what Fernando Alonso said to him after their terrifying crash at Spa in the 2012 Formula 1 season.

Grosjean was speaking to the Formula 1 website about his time in the sport.

The Frenchman spent 10 seasons in F1 with Renault, Lotus and Haas, recording 10 podiums but never achieving that elusive win.

Romain Grosjean was a very reliable driver for Haas during the last few years of his career, but he didn’t always have that reputation.

The 37-year-old was well known for being extremely aggressive when he first entered F1 and didn’t always time his moves correctly.

After a seven-race stint with Renault in 2009, he returned to the Lotus team full-time in 2012, but once again didn’t complete a full season.

That’s because Grosjean was given a one-race ban for a huge crash he was adjudged to be at fault at for Spa that involved Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

The Frenchman out-braked himself and flew through the air past the Spanish driver, narrowly avoiding his cockpit.

Thankfully no one was hurt but it could have been so much worse and measures have now been introduced in Formula 1 to make crashes like that safer.

Grosjean shares Alonso text after huge Spa crash

Speaking about the incident, Grosjean said: “Spa was a mistake, I accept the penalty, but I think the penalty was far too harsh.

“I’m not proud of it, but it’s part of it. I remember texting Fernando, ‘Sorry, I’m glad you’re okay.’

“His answer was: ‘The penalty is too harsh, you will bounce back.’ Then on the other hand, it was not nice to have Mark coming in, I mean, we all make mistakes and he’s done some. Yeah, that was tough.”

Lotus brought Jerome d’Ambrosio in for a single race in Italy that season although the Belgian could only finish 13^th.

Grosjean refined his driving style quickly and was one season away from reaching the 200 Grand Prix mark in the end.

After that incident in Spa more than 10 years ago, few fans would have expected Alonso to outlast Grosjean simply because of his age.

However, he’s still going at 42 and not only that, he’s still one of the fastest drivers on the grid.

The introduction of the Halo device in F1 should make similar crashes in the future safer for the drivers, but nothing is guaranteed at such high speeds.

Hopefully, we won’t see a repeat of the incident any time soon.