Stewart: I can save F1 wild child Grosjean

Three-time world champion Jackie Stewart is eager to work with Romain Grosjean and help prevent the accidents “jeopardising his career”.

Grosjean was called a “nutcase” by Mark Webber on Sunday following a collision.

“I would love to help Romain, because I think he has enormous potential,” Stewart, an ambassador for Lotus’s owners, Genii Capital, told the BBC.

“More accidents could jeopardise his chances of driving for Lotus next season, let alone the very best teams.”

In 15 races this season, Grosjean has been involved in seven first-lap accidents and one on the second lap. He was banned from this season’s Italian GP after causing a first-corner pile-up at Spa to become the first driver to be excluded from a race since Michael Schumacher in 1994. The 26-year-old was given a 10-second stop-go penalty after his crash with Red Bull’s Webber in Japan on Sunday, before eventually retiring with two laps to go.

Stewart, who won the world title in 1969, 1971 and 1973, believes Grosjean has the potential to become one of the sport’s top drivers.

“It’s his first full season in F1 and he is fast enough to win races,” he said. “I actually think he could have won one or two Grands Prix this season, but his potential is being overshadowed by the number of accidents he’s having.”

The Scotsman first offered to coach Grosjean back in July.

“He had already had a few accidents then and I thought I might be able to help him avoid them in the future,” Stewart said. “I’d been a young entrant to F1 myself and had also run a good driver development programme at Stewart GP, when I helped drivers like David Coulthard, Juan Pablo Montoya, Gil de Ferran and Allan McNish.

“Romain, who I have to say is an extremely nice young man, chose not to take up the offer. The season was congested then, he was about to go on his honeymoon, and he felt he had his own people assisting him. When the time comes and he wants to do it, I will always be there for him because of my relationship with the team.”

The 73-year-old says Grosjean needs to curb his natural attacking instincts and show greater anticipation in races.

“The mind has to be the master over natural ability. Having been there and had very, very few collisions in my career, I know that to finish first, first you must finish, and that you never win a race on the first corner, but you’ll quite often lose one there.”