Plooij: "In five races he'll have so many penalty points he'll get banned"

An intense and much discussed moment in the past Formula 1 season was the crash of Romain Grosjean. In an interview with Motorsport.com Jack Plooij tells how he experienced that moment, among the other journalists in the pit lane. He also looks ahead to 2021, where the arrival of Nikita Mazepin is already loosening the tongues.

Pits was silent after crash Grosjean

"It was quiet as a mouse. You're wondering: On a Formula 1 circuit, can it be quiet at all during a race? Yes, it can. Quiet as a mouse."

"Everyone stood up and looked at the monitors and asked each other if they knew anything. Luckily, I was standing next to someone from FOM TV, and they already had footage of Grosjean getting out of his car and seeing that things were going reasonably well. So I told them right away, the more information the better".

The reason those images weren't allowed to be broadcast at that time was because a marshall was thought to have been hit by a front band. As long as this hadn't been confirmed, the direction didn't want to show any footage yet.

Plooij believes that FOM did this very well, including the reruns of the Grosjean crash that were broadcast. "Let's show that the sport has become so all-powerfully safe."

Nikita Mazepin

Next year, Plooij expects a lot of anecdote material from Nikita Mazepin, who is notorious before he has driven his first meters in a Formula 1 car. "Great, it's going to be a party. Within five races he'll have so many penalty points that he is not allowed to participate for three races. That guy is crazy as hell."