Romain Grosjean furious at Andretti teammate Alexander Rossi: ‘He’s an absolute idiot’

Associated PressJul 3, 2022, 5:30 PM EDT
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LEXINGTON, Ohio — As Scott McLaughlin celebrated at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a full-blown crisis raged across the paddock for Andretti Autosport with Romain Grosjean furious at teammates Alexander Rossi.

Team owner Michael Andretti stormed away from Alexander Rossi’s pit stand after contact between Rossi and teammate Romain Grosjean knocked them both off course, and Andretti was later seen in a heated discussion with Rossi’s father.

Rossi is leaving Andretti at the end of the season to drive for Arrow McLaren SP, but it seems that tensions and emotions already have boiled over between him and his soon-to-be-former teammates.

“He’s an absolute idiot,” Grosjean told reporters after the race. “Sorry.”

Rossi and Grosjean had repeated wheel-to-wheel contact and one of the bumps knocked the steering wheel out of Rossi’s hands, leaving him unable to turn as both cars went off course.

“What the hell is wrong with him?” Grosjean screamed.

Grosjean was less than pleased to later receive team orders to aid Rossi’s finish.

“What do you want me to do? Just block everyone behind and not go ahead?” Grosjean asked.

Told that yes, Andretti Autosport expected Grosjean to hold up traffic to help his teammates, the Frenchman declined.

“Because Rossi put me in the wall, so I am not going to protect him,” Grosjean replied.

Grosjean was then informed of the stakes via team radio: “Rossi is not a lap down, you are.”

Rossi finished 19th, Grosjean was 21st and Colton Herta spun midrace after contact with Grosjean and finished 15th, best of the four-car Andretti fleet.

“I must apologize to Colton,” said Grosjean, who was penalized for avoidable contact. “I had a lot more grip than everyone else so I just braked. I didn’t realize Colton would brake so early. So I tried to avoid contact. That wasn’t good from my side, but I think that’s going to be it as far as today, it’s just that Rossi is an absolute idiot out there.”

The Formula One veteran, who joined Andretti this season, said he appreciated Michael Andretti meeting with his drivers postrace.

“It wasn’t pleasant, but it was good that he did it,” Grosjean said. “I understand he’s frustrated and not happy with us.”

Grosjean still remained very unhappy with Rossi’s move.

“I don’t know why he does that,” Grosjean said. “He’s on black (tires), I’m on reds. I’m on the outside, and I carry more speed through the corner. He did it once on the restart. OK, maybe he slipped on cold tires. Do it again the next lap, then he did it on purpose. My hand is hurting. We lost the bloody race.”

Rossi downplayed the drama after the race.

“Just a racing incident,” he said. “He was on a softer tire and probably going to get around me, but he likes to do it fast and early. I had to test him there and obviously that’s unfortunate to tap into a teammate, but that’s the way it goes.”

Rossi, who also was penalized by IndyCar officials for avoidable contact, also ran into teammate Devlin DeFrancesco, who finished 17th.

Asked if he is racing Andretti drivers differently now that he knows he’s leaving the team, Rossi said no.

“Of course not. We’re teammates for Andretti Autosport and trying to get the best result possible,” he said.

In the Andretti Autosport postrace release, the team noted that “a round of incidents amongst teammates cost valuable track positions. The melee brought about high tensions and lowered finishing results.”

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

By Mar 20, 2023, 5:05 PM EDT
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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan
Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

Lawrence defends Deegan
A block pass by Haiden Deegan led to a series of events that eventually led to Jordon Smith failing to make the Main. – Feld Motor Sports

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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