Romain Grosjean has confirmed on this social media this Wednesday that he is filing for arbitration against the Andretti Autosport IndyCar squad.
The former Formula 1 driver enjoyed a very mixed spell during his two seasons with the team. After a P2 at Long Beach in early 2022, Grosjean came out of the traps even better this year.
He took pole at St. Pete and was on course to fight for the victory until he was taken out by Scott McLaughlin just after the Kiwi exited the pits on cold tyres.
The Frenchman then crashed out of a probable top 5 result in Texas on the penultimate lap, but he bounced back with P2 finishes at Long Beach and Alabama. A contract extension seemed inevitable at that stage.
However, his season completely nosedived from there. The 37-year-old only bagged one more top 10 finish across the rest of 2023 (P6 in Nashville) but crashes and mistakes — plus some rants at his team that were caught on camera after sessions — saw the relationship completely fall apart.
As he got outshone by Kyle Kirkwood and Colton Herta as the campaign went on, Andretti Autosport went and got Marcus Ericsson from Chip Ganassi Racing. That proved to seal his fate.
According to respected IndyCar journalist Nathan Brown, Grosjean had signed a contract to stay with Andretti. But the contract papers never returned to the Frenchman.
In his statement on social media, Grosjean said the following:
“I enjoyed working with the IndyCar team at Andretti Autosport, and am proud of the
successes we shared through two seasons. I am thankful for the many friendships developed at the highest level of American open-wheel racing.
“I had expected to continue racing with the fine people of Andretti Autosport in the
coming years. I am disappointed that is not being fulfilled, and wish Andretti team
members well. I am pursuing other options to continue my IndyCar career in pursuit of
excellence.
“I have commenced an arbitration proceeding in Indiana against Andretti Autosport, seeking to protect my rights. I am represented by John Maley and Mark Owens of Barnes & Thornburg, LLP.”
Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | Chris Jones
