Grosjean returns to Haas for Mugello test with VF23

Romain Grosjean returned to a Formula One cockpit on Friday, September 26, 2025, when he drove Haas’s 2023 VF23 at the Mugello Circuit in Italy as part of the team’s Testing of Previous Cars programme. The outing reunited the French driver with members of the crew he raced with from 2016 to 2020 and marked a symbolic close to the chapter opened by his fiery crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Grosjean completed laps in wet conditions during the day’s programme, which combined heritage activity and Pirelli tyre work, and performed a standing start. He wore the helmet design prepared by his children for what was to have been his final Formula One race in 2020. Former race engineer Ayao Komatsu, who worked with Grosjean throughout his time in F1, resumed the role trackside for the test. Former IndyCar driver and broadcaster James Hinchcliffe also sampled the VF23 as part of a broadcast feature.

The return was arranged under Haas’s Testing of Previous Cars initiative, enabled in part by recent partnerships that have allowed the team to run older cars outside grand prix weekends. Haas said the programme is intended to support development work while giving the squad scope to...