‘10 drivers thanked me for speaking up' - Criticism of Grosjean continues

Rahal’s expressed his frustration after Grosjean aggressively overtook him at the most recent IndyCar round on Lap 87 into the hairpin.

After the race, Rahal stated that Grosjean has “overstayed his welcome” and criticised him for his driving standards. 

Grosjean was adamant his defensive manoeuvres were “hard racing”.

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More recently, Rahal took to social media to defend his comments, claiming that at least 10 drivers texted him after and thanked him for “speaking up” against Grosjean’s driving.

“Gotta love all the keyboard warriors ranting on as usual,” Rahal wrote on Instagram. “I guess the 10 drivers who’ve texted me thanking me for speaking up so far are also idiots. Man, amazing how that works!”

Rahal has called for “100 per cent clean racing” in future after his recent clash with the former Lotus and Haas F1 driver.

“I suppose we’ll find out next time we’re wheel to wheel, which it seems we are every weekend, he and I,” Rahal told NBC Sports. “So, we’ll see what comes of that.

“The beauty of IndyCar racing is understanding how to race wheel to wheel. Race hard, race clean and properly execute a pass. I think that’s one of the greatest things about IndyCar racing is the mano a mano battle that takes place both mentally and physically in the race car to put yourself in the position to properly execute a pass and to properly go beat somebody cleanly.

“I was probably side by side with Scotty [McLaughlin] 10 laps in a row at Barber [and] never touched, never had a problem. One hundred per cent clean racing. That’s the way it should be.”

“NASCAR obviously is a little bit different [with] big fenders. The style is a little bit different on an oval. The easiest way around [is] ‘I’m just going to give you the old nudge.’ But that’s not what the core of IndyCar racing has been about. You go back to my dad’s era and everything else. Clean, hard racing. That’s what it’s about. So for me, that’s what I enjoy. And we’ll see how it is going forward. Literally, that’s all I can say.”