Indy 500 champ Takuma Sato feels 'fortunate' to event get to race this year
Takuma Sato this year became the 20th driver to win the Indy 500 twice, following his 2017 victory in The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Racing driver Romain Grosjean, who survived a fiery crash during a Formula One race last November, will compete in the 2021 IndyCar season with Dale Coyne Racing.
(Clive Mason - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
The Frenchman was engulfed in flames for nearly half a minute after his Haas F1 car came into contact with another vehicle and crashed into a barrier at 140 mph. He escaped major injury, but suffered burns to his hands that required him to wear bandages for over a month.
Grosjean, whose contract with Haas F1 was set to expire at the end of the year even before the incident, missed the final two races of what was his ninth full season in Formula One.
(AP)
The 34-year-old said he had to convince his three children to let him get back behind the wheel.
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"Initially they did not want me to race anymore and they told me to do every other job you can imagine — tennis player, artist, engineer, cook, you name it," Grosjean said. "But I explained to them that I was the dad that I was because I had racing and that was a big, big part of my life and it made me happy."
Grosjean is schedule to get his first seat time in the Honda-powered car on Feb. 22 during a test day at Barber Motorsports Park ahead of the season-opening race there on Apri. 18.
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"In the end, it's got four wheels, one steering wheel, one seat, some aerodynamics," Grosjean said. "I am confident we can get on top of things, even though there will be a learning curve. And I'm going to be a rookie, for the first time in a long time."
Two tracks he won't need to learn are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway ovals. Grosjean, along with fellow IndyCar rookie Jimmie Johnson, will be skipping the high-speed Indy 500 and dual Texas races due to safety concerns.