Romain Grosjean, born on 17 April 1986, is a French-Swiss racing driver who competed in F1 for nine full seasons. During these seasons, he achieved ten podium finishes, all with the Lotus F1 Team.
Grosjean’s career in single-seater motorsports began with a remarkable debut, winning the 2005 French Formula Renault championship in his first attempt. His early success led him to join the Renault Young Driver programme. He continued to demonstrate his speed by winning the 2007 Formula 3 Euro Series championship. In 2008, Grosjean claimed the title of the inaugural GP2 Asia Series and finished fourth in his first season in the GP2 Series. His impressive performance in these series promoted him from GP2 to F1 partway through the 2009 season with Renault at the European Grand Prix. He replaced Nelson Piquet Jr. and despite missing the final eight races of the GP2 season, he finished fourth.
After a series of disappointing results, he was dropped by Renault before the 2010 season, and Grosjean returned to GP2. He won the 2010 Auto GP championship on his first try and secured both the GP2 Asia Series and GP2 titles in 2011.
Grosjean eventually returned to F1 in 2012 with the Lotus F1 Team, alongside teammate Kimi Räikkönen. He earned his first Formula One podium at the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix and recorded his first fastest lap at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix. However, his aggressive driving style led to a race ban after a major collision at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix, the first such penalty since 1994. On the run towards the first corner, La Source, Grosjean made a sudden move across the track and collided with Lewis Hamilton. This started a chain reaction involving Fernando Alonso, Sergio Pérez, and Kamui Kobayashi. The impact was severe enough that Grosjean’s car went airborne over Alonso’s cockpit, narrowly missing his head. The crash led to the immediate retirement of Grosjean, Hamilton, Alonso, and Pérez from the race.
Grosjean continued with Lotus in 2013, making six podiums. In 2014 and 2015, he raced alongside Pastor Maldonado, with a best result of third place at the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix. In September 2015, it was announced that we would move to Haas for the 2016 season, a team he remained with until the end of the 2020 season.
A dramatic and life-threatening crash marked Grosjean’s final Formula 1 race at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, where his car split in two and caught fire after colliding and getting wedged under a metal barrier. Miraculously, he sustained only minor burns to his hands, crediting the halo safety device for saving his life.
Post-F1, Grosjean moved to the American IndyCar Series in 2021. He quickly made his mark by securing his first pole position and podium finish in his third race, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
