Romain Grosjean has confirmed he will miss next weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, bringing his Formula 1 career to an early end.
The Haas driver is set to return home to Switzerland as he continues his treatment and recovery from the burns he sustained in the horrific crash a week ago in Bahrain, when his car burst into flames following a 53G impact with the barrier.
And in a statement released earlier on Sunday, admitted the decision not to race was "one of the hardest of my life".
“It is with great sadness that I will not be able to do my final race in Abu Dhabi and be with the team there,” said Grosjean.
“We’ve tried as much as we could with the doctor to recover and to repair my hand, but the risk of racing is too big for my recovery and my health.
“So, the decision was made that I’m not going to race. It’s one of the hardest decisions of my life, but it’s obviously one of the wisest. I will miss the team, but I will be supporting them as ever.”
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Earlier this week, Grosjean returned to the track to thank the marshals and medical team for saving his life after being sat in the burning remains of his car for almost 30 seconds before finally escaping.
And voiced a strong wish to end his career on his terms with a final outing at Yas Marina.
"I want to jump back in the car because it has been my life and I would like to cross the finish line properly when I finish my career in Formula 1," he was quoted by ESPN.
"I don't want it to be over on a bad day, even though the footage of a Haas crossing the line at the back of the field will be less dramatic and less broadcasted around the world, I would like it.
"If it doesn't happen, it's OK. I will have an opportunity to cross other finish lines in the future," Grosjean admitted. "The doctors, what they say, is that it's difficult to know yet.
"The right hand, 100% will be ready. The strength in the left hand gets better and better every day, the strength is there but the mobility, there is still a lot of swelling from the inflammation, so it needs to start reducing. The [skin] graft hasn't been ruled out yet.
"We will see. I won't take the risk to lose mobility of my left index finger and thumb just to go to Abu Dhabi."
Asked what his family thought of his wish to race again in F1, Grosjean admitted they probably would prefer he didn't.
"On Sunday night, the first video call I did with my kids, my wife, my dad was there, I said I will race in Abu Dhabi and you can imagine their reaction, they weren't very impressed with me, and I won't blame them," he said.
"I will always understand they don't accept it but I say it is very selfish, it's what I need, and what I want to do. If it doesn't happen, well I'm alive, I'll have plenty of other opportunities in the future, I'll have a super licence in 2021 and we have seen [this year] no one is safe from COVID-19, so we'll see."
That need to get back in the car led Grosjean to suggest he'd call "every single F1 team" to request a private test in January should he not return to the grid in Abu Dhabi.
And Mercedes boss Toto Wolff did open the door to the possibility.
"If we are allowed to do this and nobody else in his universe of teams where he raced would provide him with such an opportunity, we would do this," he said on Saturday.
Teams are allowed to conduct private F1 tests providing the car used is at least two years old.
As for Grosjean's replacement, Haas confirmed Pietro Fittipaldi will continue for a second straight weekend in Abu Dhabi.
