Grosjean apologises for Haas future comments

Jul.18 (GMM) Romain Grosjean has backtracked after saying Haas’ future in Formula 1 is an “elephant in the room”.

It is widely known in the paddock that owner Gene Haas is considering pulling out of the sport.

But team boss Gunther Steiner said it was “wrong” of Grosjean to make the public comments about those deliberations.

“He was asked what he was doing and he spoke on behalf of the team,” Steiner said.

“I believe the elephant is in his room, not ours. Whether we are there or not will be decided once we sign the new Concorde Agreement, but I’m still confident we’ll be there.”

Presumably chided behind the scenes by Steiner as well, Grosjean apologised.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” he is quoted by L’Equipe.

“No, it wasn’t for an episode of Netflix. Everything has been ironed out with the team,” Grosjean added. “Everything is fine.”

But even his teammate Kevin Magnussen is unsure what Haas’ future looks like.

“We have not received any indication of when Gene will make a decision,” he told Ekstra Bladet newspaper.

“But my feeling is that he is happy to be in Formula 1. He has a good team and I see every reason to continue, also because the future looks so exciting with the new regulations.”