Grosjean accuses F1 of dangerous ‘double standards’ after crash

MONZA, Italy: Romain Grosjean accused F1’ s race control lers of “double standards” for ignoring drivers’ warnings of the dangers after he crashed in Saturday’s rain-hit qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.

The Frenchman said the circuit was too dangerous for qualifying to have started, adding that it was obvious that there was too much water standing on the Autodromo Nazionale circuit.

“They absolutely don’t listen to us,” said the Haas driver.

“I just think it’s not normal. It’s double standards. They should listen to us in these conditions -- it really sucks.”

Grosjean lost control of his car when it aquaplaned on the start-finish straight at high speed only four minutes into the session. He was unhurt and the session was red-flagged to a halt.

Onboard film of his accident showed that his car appeared to aquaplane twice before it speared left into the barriers before bouncing back across the track.

“I’m going to try to be calm and not say anything I may regret, but I think we shouldn’t have launched ‘quali’,” he told reporters.

“From the out- lap onwards, I complained a lot saying that it was too dangerous. We couldn’t see where we were.

“I don’t think I was the only one. Clearly, crashing in a straight line shows that the car cannot take it. There was too much water.

“I’m disappointed that we started in those conditions, but what can you do? You cannot back off. If there’s someone behind you, he’s straight in the back of you because he can’t see.

“You don’t know what’s in front. We should have waited.”

The FIA’s official Race Director Charlie Whiting said it was difficult to judge track conditions because the weather was so unpredictable. — AFP