TOKYO – Red Bull’s Mark Webber has called Romain Grosjean a “first-lap nutcase” and “embarrassing” after they collided in the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Lotus driver, who had a race ban for causing a first-corner pile-up at Spa, hit Webber at the start, sending him to the back of the field.
Webber said: “It’s frustrating. Maybe he needs another holiday.”
“The most worrying thing is he doesn’t seem to be learning from his mistakes.”
Christian Horner Red Bull team principal Grosjean (26) added: “I was just trying to avoid any contact. It didn’t work. It was a stupid crash.”
Grosjean, who has now had seven first-lap incidents in 14 races this season, was given a 10-second stop-go penalty for the error before retiring with two laps to go. Webber, who had started second, eventually finished ninth.
“I haven’t seen what happened at the start, but the guys confirmed that it was the first-lap nutcase again Grosjean,” added the Australian.
“The rest of us are trying to fight for some decent results each weekend, but he is trying to get to the third corner as fast as he can at every race.
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“He needs to have a look at himself. It was completely his fault. How many mistakes can you make? How many times can you make the same error? It’s quite embarrassing at this level for him.”
Grosjean was banned from the Italian Grand Prix – the first driver to be banned from a race since Michael Schumacher in 1994 – after causing the first-corner crash.
It followed first-lap incidents in Malaysia, Spain, Monaco, Britain and Germany plus a second-lap incident in Australia. -BBC Sport
