Jules Bianchi remains in a hospital room; his fight for life has been successful but the greater fight goes on.
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Quite what quality of life he will have in the aftermath of that crash in Suzuka will only become clear in time.
It was an accident that had widespread ramifications on the grid and, after the initial shock and concern for his rival in GP2 and latterly F1, Romain Grosjean’s thoughts turned to his own situation.
Really good first feeling behind the wheel of the #E23 ! Looking forward to be in #Barcelona #r8main #Jerez #F1 pic.twitter.com/KI63YGc6Am
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) February 4, 2015
Grosjean’s wife Marion will give birth to the couple’s second child in mid-May and the Lotus F1 racer admits it has made him think of his own fallibility.
“You don’t do things for you anymore, you do them for him, for family,” he says of his first child, a son Sacha.
“It certainly makes things harder when you see the Jules Bianchi case because, if it happens to you, you’re not ok.
“Before, I had my parents and family but you create your family and I did struggle to go over that accident as I knew him very well and he’s French but also because I’m a dad.
“I think we all know the risks even though, touch wood, I did not have a big accident in the past. I try to protect my family but I know I’m doing a risky job.
My wife and I spoke a lot about it and increasing insurance. There are things like that in your mind but the thing is that racing is always in your head.”
Grosjean, like the rest of the grid, has raced on and the Frenchman says his fellow countryman would have done the same.
The Bianchi situation aside, 2014 was a season to forget for Grosjean, the year when Lotus’ championship challenge fell off the rails in quite spectacular fashion.
Whereas in 2013, the team had been vying for race wins and Grosjean had enjoyed six podium finishes, the following season he managed to finish just twice in the points.
And Grosjean’s often entertaining outbursts over the race radio, including – “I cannot believe it, bloody engine, bloody engine!” – following an issue in qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix, highlighted the frustration caused by the situation.
He said: “I think last season was tough for a few reasons. I knew everyone was pushing hard and everyone trying to do their best. And the second part was trying to keep a positive momentum when straight away we could see things were not going to be right.”
Grosjean said it took until the third lap in the first winter tests to know the season ahead would be tough and he went on to describe the opening race in Melbourne as “a disaster”.
He adds: “I’m more Latin than Nordic so there’s a bit more emotion and that’s part of my driving. It’s part of the emotions and sometimes frustration was there. I want to push everyone forward and win races with the team. When the goal is to be top level, you have to be harsh.”
Grosjean’s own journey into Formula 1 has been something of a roller coaster. Brought in for the latter part of the 2009 season by Renault following Crashgate, he was then jettisoned to the sidelines until a recall to the team in 2012.
But it proved to be a season of turmoil, and he was branded a “first-lap nutcase” by Mark Webber after the pair’s coming together at the Japanese Grand Prix, and he was banned for another crash at Spa.
Looking back on the lows, he admits: “It was hard to come onto the grid after drivers call you ‘nutcase’ as I was described. You need a strong character as everyone is looking at you and everyone taking advantage of it.
“To be fair, in 2012 the biggest mistake was not Spa but Suzuka. But whatever happened, I learned from it and found what I was doing right and wrong, and from there I haven’t crashed any more on the first corners.
“But that doesn’t go away – it’s still part of me. It’s like last year. You just think ‘forget 2014, it was a bad year’ but for me that’s not the right approach. It was a disastrous year but what can we learn, what did we do good? Not everything was bad. It’s the same with 2012 – it’s part of your building.”
Whereas he might have been accused of a lack of maturity in the past, he believes parenthood has changed him, enabled him to get a wider perspective on what he is doing.
As a driver, he believes it has improved him, enabling him to focus greater in the racing world with more people relying on him.
Has it changed him as a person? “Yes 150 times, it’s my biggest proudness. Every time you go back home, especially in a season like 2014, I see my son, my wife and it’s good.
“It’s hard, every time you close the door, you cry a little bit for a few seconds and then go to the airport. I think even though he’s young he understands things.
“After Abu Dhabi, I picked him up and he hugged me for five minutes, he wouldn’t let me go. He understood it was the end of the season and I was going to be more with him.”
Sacha had been due at the end of July 2013 around the time of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Grosjean walked in the door at 11pm on Sunday the 28th, five hours later his wife’s waters had broken and the pair were en route to hospital.
Child No.2 is due to arrive mid-May and Grosjean is hopeful of some similarly fine timing. However, should the birth coincide with a race, he is adamant: “If it’s at a race, the birth, I race.”
Life off the track is in a good place but, on it, Lotus with a limited budget compared to the big teams and having battled with the weaker Renault engine, it is a struggle to get back in the mix although early signs during testing in Jerez this week were encouraging.
Can they aspire to finish fourth in the constructors’ championship as they did in 2013 and pick up the odd race win?
“I hope we do but it’s hard to say,” he admits. “There are years where I think the car is not good and goes very well and years where I think it’s going to be good and not so good.
“If we can achieve the same level as Williams last year – that would be really good. I think they spent quite a lot of money but we did it before. The more money you have the easier it is. Let’s hope.”
