Banned Grosjean supporting Lotus at Monza

2012 Spa start crash: Romain Grosjean’s Lotus flies over Fernando’s Alonso’s Ferrari

An unusually-forlorn Romain Grosjean was an unhappy pitwall spectator on Friday as he began to serve his one-race ban for last Sunday’s Spa crash.

The Frenchman arrived at the Monza paddock as practice began, to watch Lotus’ reserve driver Jerome d’Ambrosio drive his black and gold car.

Asked by RMC Sport if he has thought deeply about the crash that wiped Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso out of the Belgian grand prix and also cost him EUR 50,000, Grosjean answered: “Think (about it), yes, but then again I would say no because I don’t necessarily want to relive it.

“I just wanted to understand why (it happened) so I can go to the next race in Singapore stronger,” he added.

Normally smiling ear-to-ear, Grosjean admitted it is hard to be trackside in such difficult circumstances.

“It is not pleasant to come to Monza and not race,” he said. “It was a collective decision. We are together as a team in good times and in bad.

“We didn’t ask, neither me nor the team, it (coming to Monza) just seemed natural.

“The team has offered me amazing support all week. So, today, I am happy to be here to try to help if I can. If Jerome has any questions, I will answer them with pleasure for the team to score points in the championship.

“It may also be interesting to see how Kimi (Raikkonen) works.

“I spent two sessions with the engineers on the pitwall and noticed a lot of interesting things that I want to try in Singapore.”

Grosjean did not want to say if he thinks the penalty – the first time the FIA has banned a driver in almost two decades – is unfair.

“It’s severe but I accept it, and hopefully we can grow from it.

“I think we are going to review some things, redesign the weekends a little bit, focus on different things to be better equipped for the starts.

“To throw everything away and start from scratch would be a mistake,” added Grosjean.

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