Paris (AFP)

"Ready to take a sabbatical year" after his spectacular crash in Bahrain in Formula 1, two months ago, the Franco-Swiss driver Romain Grosjean will finally bounce back in 2021 in Indycar where he aims for "podiums" and hopes "even more ".

Q: After such an accident, haven't you considered taking a break this year?

A: "I was ready to take a year off, unless there was a great opportunity and a project that made sense, and the project with Dale Cone Racing (his new team, editor's note) makes sense. something that interests me, I've always watched the IndyCar. I can have fun, I can have fun and that's something I want today: to be able to start a race weekend by telling myself that there is a chance to win the race. If I go there, it is not to make the extras. I hope there will be podiums and even hope more. In Formula 1, I knew that we had no chance of winning the races and it is a little hard after a while to tell yourself that you are training, that you are doing the work, everything you need to be top, but that you have no chance of being there ".

Q: Have you fully recovered?

A: "The hand is fine, there is hardly any part open, except the top of the index finger still a little open. It is not very beautiful, it is brand new skin, all pink and very thin. The thumb is the same, the rehabilitation of the torn ligament is going pretty well, the strength in the hand is good, even if I have a lot of trouble with the cool temperatures we have at the moment. I think putting on racing gloves is not going to be a problem. The first IndyCar tests are on February 22, will I be 100%? Probably not yet, but for the first race on 17-18 April I think I will be 100% fixed ".

Q: Before driving again, is it the excitement or the dread that dominates?

A: "In terms of re-riding, I feel the excitement, clearly, the winter is too long. Well, too long yes and no since my hand would not have allowed me to ride before. The apprehension I do not don't know, I really have to wait until I am at the start of the first Grand Prix of the season to see how I feel in the peloton. I think riding alone is not going to be a problem, but in the peloton it's still a problem. question which remains open, and that only the race will be able to tell me. After, I think that the 'phoenix' (a new nickname, after getting out of his car in flames during the Bahrain Grand Prix on November 29, editor's note) will survive and last a few more years, I think it will be part of my history, it remains an impressive, shocking, incredible moment of the year 2020. But I have no problem with it, once again accidents are part motorsport, it can happen ".

Interview at a virtual press conference

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