Just one month on from the Spa-Francorchamps pile-up that led to his one-race ban, Romain Grosjean was an encouraging fifth on the grid for Formula 1’s 2012 Japanese Grand Prix.
With six grands prix to go, Mark Webber’s title hopes were dwindling. The Red Bull driver was just fifth in the standings, 62 points down on championship leader Fernando Alonso. At least he started the Japanese race from the front row, alongside his pole-setting team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
However, Webber took a poor getaway, dropping behind Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, before his right-rear was hit by Grosjean in Turn 2, which sent him spinning into the grass. He recovered to ninth place only.
This led to the Australian’s infamous tirade against the Lotus driver, whom he branded a “first-lap nutcase”, suggesting the youngster deserved to be suspended again.
Current Haas F1 team principal Ayao Komatsu was the 26-year-old’s race engineer at the time, but he was just 36 himself and has admitted to not handling Grosjean’s distress as well as he could have.
Komatsu told the High Performance Podcast that he “shied away from certain aspects of [Grosjean’s] character”, explaining: “I didn’t know what to do about it, you know, I didn’t know how I could help.
“Mark Webber came to Romain’s room after the race, punching and kicking every single panel you can think of – and then stormed off. And then Romain crying on the floor.
“For me, if I was Romain, even if I was at fault, if somebody came kicking down all my panels, I would kick this guy out, right? But he couldn’t do that, you know? But then in that emotional state, I didn’t know what was the best way for me to help him, if you like. Yeah, I didn’t tackle it head-on.”
Ayao Komatsu and Romain Grosjean
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro
Asked what he told Grosjean at the time, Komatsu continued: “That’s the issue. I couldn’t offer anything, let’s say, meaningful, right? But I think if I had more life experience, I could have treated [it] in a different way. I could have gone through whatever problem he had together a bit more. Then that could have made a big difference. Now I know, but I just couldn’t do it back then.
“But then when I met with Romain a few years ago in Interlagos, I said that, ‘I really feel I let you down by not being able to help you in that instance because I didn’t have the life experience, you know? I wish I had five years more life experience. I would have done it differently, I would have gone through the journey together with you to get you out of that hole’, if you like, the rock bottom he was in. Not just in Suzuka, many other incidents, right?
“But Romain said to me, ‘Ayao, we grew up together. I don’t want Ayao with five more [years’] life experience back then. I wouldn’t change anything.’ You know, he’s a great guy.
“But I still wish I could have done more.”
Grosjean was in the early stages of seeing a sports psychologist at the time, which he has credited with substantial improvements in his approach and mental health. He went on to enjoy 10 podiums throughout his career, though victory always eluded him.
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