3 times Romain Grosjean faced criticism from fellow IndyCar drivers for his driving standards

Romain Grosjean has ruffled a significant share of feathers in his racing career. Though the legend of the 'Phoenix' has positively immortalized him in F1 and motorsport history, his IndyCar opponents don't perceive him like that.

Romain Grosjean jumped ship to IndyCar in 2021 after the fireball crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix ruled him out of the remaining two races. With that, the curtain fell on his 5-year stint with Haas and his 11-year F1 career. Though no one could deny the Frenchman's talent and raw pace with which he earned 10 podiums with Lotus, Grosjean overstepped his mark on some occasions, including causing a multi-car wreckage at Spa in 2012, for which he received a race ban.

His aggressive driving troubled his rivals, not in a competitive sense, but that of a plain nuisance. This carried on into his time in IndyCar, and he was publicly called out for his unrestrained wheel-to-wheel racing on live broadcasts as well. On that note, here are three times when Grosjean crossed the line while battling with his IndyCar rivals.

#3 Graham Rahal unabashedly states Romain Grosjean has "overstayed his welcome" in IndyCar

AUTO: MAY 13 INDYCAR Series GMR Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Romain Grosjean's actions at the 2022 Grand Prix of Alabama caused a huge stir in IndyCar. In the race's closing stages, the then-Andretti Autosport attempted a late divebomb on Graham Rahal in Turn 5. He took the inside line of the left-hander hairpin and made contact with Rahal at the corner exit, and two seconds later, collided again.

After the race, Rahal was fuming about Grosjean's actions, which he found intentional. He said via The Race:

"I’m just frustrated because this isn’t the first time. In St Pete, he hit everybody he could hit. We come here, he hit Rossi, he hit Herta, he hit me. At some point, we’ve got to clean up our act."

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver also called upon the other drivers to speak up about their frustration with Romain Grosjean.

"I think the drivers need to get together - all of us - because I’m not the only one with a problem. It’s quite a significant number of drivers that have had run-ins with this guy. As I said on TV, when the roles are reversed, officiating had better be consistent…because it’s gonna be reversed at some stage. I’m not gonna play nice. This guy has overstayed his welcome," he added [via Crash.net].

Rahal also took a dig at the 'reputation' that his French rival built during his time in F1.

#2 Josef Newgarden's bitter IndyCar welcome for Romain Grosjean in "tight" Nashville fight

Josef Newgarden during the Rolex 24 at Daytona - Source: Getty

Romain Grosjean and Josef Newgarden got involved in a seemingly unnecessary crash at the 2022 Music City Grand Prix. In the closing stages of the race, Newgarden attempted a bold move on Grosjean in Turn 9 during the battle for seventh position.

The Frenchman didn't yield and ended up in the wall and eventually, out of the race in Nashville. After the race, Newgarden had no regrets for his aggressive move and said via IndyCar:

"Welcome to IndyCar; it gets tight. He's been on the worse end of that. I don't know what to tell him."

The Team Penske driver justified his move by explaining how he has been the victim of such aggressive moves by younger drivers.

"Let me tell you what: I about got taken out six times myself. I probably need to have some discussion with some of the younger guys, but they’re aggressive. They’re very aggressive and if you’re not aggressive back, then you get run over," he added.

Things got heated on social media later as Newgarden defended himself against criticism. One such reply was a direct hit-back about Romain Grosjean's aggressive maneuvers in the past.

"He's gotten away with much worse," wrote the two-time IndyCar champ when a fan questioned the absence of penalty given.

#1 Former F1 rivals collide - Marcus Ericsson takes a blatant dig at Romain Grosjean

Marcus Ericsson at the 2023 Long Beach Grand Prix - Acura Grand Prix Media Luncheon - Source: Getty

Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson were rivals in F1 before the latter shifted to IndyCar in 2019. Their most famous crossover came at the 2018 Azerbaijan GP.

While weaving under a safety car to keep his tires warm, Grosjean lost control of his Haas and ended up in the wall. To everybody's surprise, he blamed Ericsson on the radio, saying, "Ericsson hit me," when there was no contact. A meme for the ages was born on that day.

Their IndyCar clash in 2022 was on the same day at the Music City Grand Prix as Newgarden and Grosjean's. A few laps before Newgarden took Grosjean out, Grosjean took Ericsson out.

Grosjean made a late overtaking move on his former F1 rival, who had to slow down and cede the position. In doing so, he was hit by Colton Herta, who wasn't expecting such a braking move.

Later in the day, Romain Grosjean took to X and put three angry-face emojis to express his frustration with Josef Newgarden taking him out of the race. Marcus Ericsson took this as an opportunity to put Grosjean in his place. He replied to the tweet, saying:

"What goes around comes around"

A few days later, Ericsson revealed that he had since called Grosjean to talk about the situation and settle it. He also explained what led to him tweeting what he did.

"Romain is an aggressive driver and has been involved in some stuff over the last season and a half and caused some controversy. If that’s right or wrong I don’t know, that’s not up to me really to say, but I think that was sort of the thing with me as well, I felt like he was maybe over aggressive but like I said when I looked back at it, I don’t really feel that way anymore," the 2022 Indy 500 winner said [via The Race].

Despite such complaints from his rivals, Grosjean continued to race in IndyCar before financial problems led to him losing out on his Juncos Hollinger Racing seat for 2025.