Former Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean has drawn the ire of animal rights organization PETA. This was due to statements made by the Frenchman after an incident during training for the Indy500.
Former Formula 1 star Romain Grosjean had a rare and unusual collision during training for the Indy500. While he was racing along the speedway at around 370 km/h, he collided with a bird. So far, so unfortunate.
However, in the eyes of the animal rights organization PETA, the statements Grosjean made after the collision were more than unfortunate.
The Frenchman had said: “I still have blood on my racing suit. Parts of the bird were stuck to the roll bar. I couldn’t see where I was going anymore because there was a lot on the aeroscreen. My helmet stinks, the seat stinks. And I didn’t get any chicken for lunch because I just ran past it.”
“Birds have more feelings than Grosjean”
This flippant statement was not well received by PETA. European deputy head Mimi Bekhechi clearly criticized Grosjean for his choice of words and accused him of a lack of empathy.
“Birds have feelings, apparently more than Grosjean has, considering he was more worried about replaceable things like his car, his helmet and his suit than about smashing an unsuspecting bird,” said Bekhechi, who said he would send Grosjean a plant-based chicken.
By the way, it wasn’t the Frenchman’s first encounter with animals on the race track. He collided with an animal during training for the Canadian Grand Prix in 2019. At that time he met a woodchuck that ran onto the track. Its front wing was damaged in the collision. His “victim” didn’t survive the encounter then either.