Grosjean: Everyone makes mistakes

Romain Grosjean says all drivers make mistakes as he prepares to return to action in Singapore
20.09.2012 - Romain Grosjean (FRA) Lotus F1 Team E20
20.09.2012 - Romain Grosjean (FRA) Lotus F1 Team E20
© PHOTO 4

Romain Grosjean says he is keen to put his accident at Spa firmly in the past when he returns to action in Singapore this weekend - arguing that he isn't the first, and won't be the last, driver to make a mistake on track.

Grosjean was forced to sit out the Italian Grand Prix at Monza after being handed a one-race ban for his part in the shunt that occurred at the start of the Belgian GP and will now return after handing his car to Lotus test driver Jerome D'Ambrosio for the last race.

Speaking ahead of his return, the former GP2 racer said a lack of experience had played its part in the accident and he was working to avoid a repeat in future.

"We most of the time forget that it's my first year in Formula 1," he was quoted by Sky Sports. "I'm always fighting in the top ten because we're almost always in Q3 qualifying. It means that you're always with very experienced drivers and sometimes it's not as easy as learning from the back.

"It's very tight between taking the right decision and taking the wrong decision, it might sometimes be one tenth of a second or maybe less. And there is a lot of stress at this time of the race. It comes with the experience to know exactly what we can do to take the right decision. But as well there is the preparation. We'll change a few things around me to help me get better prepared for the race and to improve myself."

Grosjean pointed to the controversial clash between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel at Monza as showing that even the best drivers on the grid still made mistakes.

"We are professional drivers," he said. "Sometimes we do mistakes, I accepted I did one. That was okay, the consequences were quite big and I was the first one to hope that nobody gets hurt in this incident.

"You think that if I'm not on the grid then there won't be any crash forever? That's a bit silly, to be honest. I'm not the only one. I've been in a few but it's not always the same.

"If you look at Monza, it was the same in the race and that's two World Champions."

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