Romain Grosjean has revealed a simple and unique trick to mark his data with Juncos Hollinger Racing in IndyCar.
The 2024 season marks the 38-year-old’s fourth year in the category and the first with the Argentine-American team, having spent the previous two years with Andretti.
In his time in IndyCar since leaving Formula 1 in 2020, Grosjean has achieved six podiums, three of which coming in his debut season in 2021 and has been five times runner-up.
The Frenchman is currently sat 16th in the drivers’ standings with five races to go, as he trails championship leader Alex Palou by over 200 points.
Romain Grosjean reveals he uses his drink button to mark data with Juncos Hollinger Racing
The Swiss-born Friench driver has been utilising his drink button on his steering wheel as a data point, even when there is not a drink in the car.
Members of his team at Juncos Hollinger Racing began to notice this approach during offseason testing, when they saw that Grosjean was pressing the button repeatedly despite there not being a drink available to him.
They soon realised that it creates a mark on the data, which the 38-year-old explained that it would easier for his team to find and relay back to them through his findings on each lap.
Speaking with Autosport, he said: “The drink button, when there’s no drink, it’s a mark on the data, so it’s easy for the engineer to find.”
“You know when doing the debrief – you’re like, ‘Maybe it was Turn 3 on lap four…’ and instead of trying to remember which number or which corner it was, let’s press the green button.
“Then you have a mark on the data, and then when you just open up the group data and you see where the mark is on, I know what happened.
“Then you can talk about it, instead of trying to remember where it was. Just press the button, it’s there.
“I have a small brain, I guess, so this could make it easy!”
Romain Grosjean has been using this method since he was in Formula 1
Grosjean does not remember how or why he came to using his technique to mark data, but does know that it begun in his time in Formula 1.
The Frenchman made 179 starts in the pinnacle of motorsport between 2009 and 2020, achieving 10 podiums, all with Lotus.
He explained that he would use the acknowledge button for pitting in order to signal something to his team and that it was not ‘common practice’ amongst his competitors.
His simple concept has also benefitted him in IndyCar, as he has recorded five top-10 finishes so far this season, including Juncos Hollinger’s best ever result of fourth at Laguna Seca.
The 38-year-old went on to say that he would be ‘flattered’ if any current or prospective drivers were to learn from and adopt his methods.