Romain Grosjean

Early life

Grosjean was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He was born to a Swiss father and a French mother. He is the great-grandson of Edgar Brandt, weapon designer and founder of Brandt. He is also the grandson of skier Fernand Grosjean, vice-world champion of giant slalom in 1950 in Aspen

Early career

He won all ten rounds of the 2003 Formula Lista Junior championship and moved to the French Formula Renault championship for 2004.

He was seventh in that first season with one win and was champion in 2005 with ten victories. Grosjean also appeared in the Formula Renault Eurocup and finished on the podium twice in Valencia.

With his results and potential in the Formula Renault series, Grosjean joined the Renault Driver Development programme for the continuation of his career.

Formula Three

Grosjean made his Formula Three debut at the 2005 Macau Grand Prix, standing in for Loïc Duval at Signature-Plus. He qualified 19th and raced to ninth, beating team-mates Fábio Carbone and Guillaume Moreau.

He did a full season in the 2006 Formula 3 Euro Series but had a tough year, taking only one podium finish and ending the year 13th. In a one-off appearance in the British Formula Three Championship he started on pole position for both races at Pau, won both and set fastest lap in each.

He stayed in the Formula 3 Euro Series for 2007 but moved to the ASM team, for which Jamie Green, Lewis Hamilton, and Paul di Resta won the previous three titles. Sébastien Buemi led the championship in the early stages but Grosjean moved ahead with a victory in the ninth race of the season at Mugello. He maintained a lead in the standings from that point onwards and won the title at the final round of the year with one race in hand.

Grosjean took pole position for the prestigious Masters of Formula 3 race at Zolder but finished 14th after stalling at the start.

GP2 Series

Grosjean drove for ART in the inaugural GP2 Asia Series season alongside Stephen Jelley, winning both races of the first round of the championship. He went on to win the championship with four race victories and sixty-one points overall.

He stayed with ART Grand Prix team for the 2008 GP2 Series. His team-mates were Luca Filippi and Sakon Yamamoto.

In the first round at the Circuit de Catalunya, Grosjean started 11th after engine problems in qualifying. He rose through the field to finish fifth in the feature race, giving him fourth on the grid for the shorter sprint race. After a good start Grosjean was up to second and then passed Kobayashi for the lead. But Grosjean made a mistake on a late rolling restart and Kobayashi tried to pass him again for the lead. Grosjean moved across on Kobayashi to keep the position but the stewards decided his defensive move was illegal and gave him a drive-through penalty dropping him to 13th at the end of the race. Victory in the sprint race at Istanbul, the fourth round of the season, moved Grosjean into second place in the championship. Despite dropping back from this position, he finished the season fourth and achieved the distinction of being the highest-placed rookie in the championship.

2008 Formula 3 Euro Series champion Nico Hülkenberg joined Pastor Maldonado at ART for 2009, forcing Grosjean out of the team. Nonetheless, Renault placed him at 2008 team champions Campos Grand Prix for 2009, now known as Barwa Addax. Despite missing the last four rounds, Grosjean finished fourth in the championship standings.

Formula One

Grosjean was confirmed as Renault's test driver for 2008, replacing Nelson Piquet Jr., who graduated to a race seat. He drove a Formula One car for the first time at the UK round of the 2008 World Series by Renault weekend at Silverstone on 7 and 8 June 2008, where he gave a number of demonstrations of the previous year's R27 car.

Renault (2009)

He initially continued in the test driver role at Renault for 2009, but took over Piquet's seat in the wake of the Crashgate controversy from the European Grand Prix onwards. Grosjean qualified 14th at the European Grand Prix. He was knocked out of Q2 0.323 seconds off the pace of team mate Fernando Alonso. He finished 15th in the race after a first lap collision with Luca Badoer necessitated a stop for a new front wing. For the next round in Belgium Grosjean qualified 19th, which he blamed on traffic and yellow flags. In the race he was eliminated on the first lap after a collision with Jenson Button. At the Italian Grand Prix, Grosjean qualified a career best 12th, but made a poor start, damaged his car with contact at the first corner, spun on the second lap, and finished 15th. He described himself as "very disappointed" after the race.

At the Singapore Grand Prix, Grosjean qualified 19th after suffering brake problems. He was hopeful of making progress in the race, but the brake problems reappeared, forcing him to retire after just three laps. At the Japanese Grand Prix, Grosjean qualified 18th, which he blamed on rain throughout practice preventing him from fully learning the demanding Suzuka Circuit, which he had never driven on before. He was promoted to 17th due to Timo Glock being unable to start the race. He was unable to make progress in the race, finishing 16th after struggling with understeer throughout the race on the unfamiliar circuit. At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Grosjean suffered an accident in practice, although he escaped unhurt. He qualified 13th in his repaired car, gained positions at the start, but then slipped back down to 13th after complaining of grip and tyre temperature problems, his best result of the season. At the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Grosjean qualified 19th, and finished 18th and last, again complaining of brake problems during the race. He said afterwards that he had "learnt an enormous amount this year, especially being team mate to Fernando".

After the end of the season news reports had doubts that Grosjean would keep his seat into 2010, On 31 January 2010 Renault confirmed that Grosjean's former GP2 team mate at the Addax Team, Vitaly Petrov would be the team's second driver alongside Robert Kubica for the 2010 season leaving Grosjean without a Formula One drive for 2010. However, in September 2010, it was confirmed by tyre manufacturer Pirelli that Grosjean would complete a test for the company in anticipation for their return to supplying tyres to the F1 grid in 2011. Grosjean replaced Nick Heidfeld, who left his testing duties to take up a race seat at Sauber.

Sportscars

After leaving Formula One, Grosjean became involved in sportscar racing. In March 2010, Grosjean secured a drive in the inaugural FIA GT1 World Championship, driving a Ford GT1 for the Matech Competition team alongside German driver Thomas Mutsch. The pairing won the opening Championship Race of the season in Abu Dhabi and added a second victory at Brno in May to lead the standings after the first three rounds of the season.

In June 2010, Grosjean made his debut in the famous Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, sharing a Ford GT1 with Mutsch and Jonathan Hirschi. After qualifying third in the LMGT1 class, they were forced to retire from the race after 171 laps.

Auto GP

In June 2010, Grosjean made a return to single-seaters, racing for the DAMS team in the third round of the Auto GP season at Spa-Francorchamps. After dominating practice and taking pole position, he won the feature race before finishing second to Carlos Iaconelli in the sprint event. Over the course of the weekend, Grosjean accumulated 18 points out of a possible 19 on offer and took away €80,000 prize money as the event's top points scorer. He went on to win three more races to take the title at Monza 16 points ahead of runner-up Edoardo Piscopo.

Return to GP2

On 20 July 2010, Grosjean announced that he would return to GP2 with the DAMS team. He replaced the then Renault test driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio for the German round of the championship. He later substituted for D'Ambrosio's injured team-mate, Ho-Pin Tung, from the Belgian round onwards (despite Tung recovering and returning to the series with a different team), finishing 3rd in Belgium and Abu Dhabi to take fourteenth place in the drivers' standings, only two positions behind D'Ambrosio.

Grosjean returned to GP2 full-time with DAMS for the 2011 GP2 Series and GP2 Asia Series seasons. He took two pole positions and one race victory to win the Asia Series by six points from Jules Bianchi, and also won the first race of the main series to lead that championship as well. He lost the championship lead to Giedo van der Garde, after the second round of the series, after an event which was hampered by a disqualification due to a technical infringement, but regained it again the following week at Monaco, scoring points in both races despite starting from last place on the grid. After scoring four further wins as part of a mid-season run that included six consecutive podium finishes, he pulled clear of his pursuers and clinched the championship at the penultimate round at Spa-Francorchamps.

Lotus (2012–2015)

At the start of 2011, Grosjean returned to the newly branded Lotus Renault GP team as one of five test drivers along with Bruno Senna, Ho-Pin Tung, Jan Charouz and Fairuz Fauzy. Lotus Renault had planned to run Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov throughout 2011 but Kubica had a horrific rally accident and was unable to drive during 2011. Former BMW Sauber team mate Nick Heidfeld replaced Kubica for the first 11 races before himself being replaced by Senna from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards. In late October 2011, Lotus Renault announced that Grosjean would drive in the first Friday free practice session in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (replacing Senna) and the Brazilian Grand Prix (replacing Petrov).

On 9 December 2011, it was announced that Grosjean would make his comeback to Formula One in 2012, taking the second seat at the newly renamed Lotus F1 Team (formerly Renault, the team that Grosjean raced with in 2009) alongside 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen.

2012

At the Australian Grand Prix, Grosjean set the second fastest time in the final free practice session, and while team-mate Räikkönen was eliminated in the first part of qualifying, Grosjean made it into the top ten – for the first time, as his previous best was twelfth place – and ultimately qualified in third position. He fell to sixth at the start and retired on the second lap after a collision with Pastor Maldonado, which broke his right-front suspension. At the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix he finished third, collecting his first Formula One podium and the first for a French driver since Jean Alesi at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix. In Spain Grosjean started third, finished fourth and set his first fastest lap in Formula One; the first for a French driver since Alesi at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. At the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix, he collected his second Formula One podium with a career best finish of second, behind Lewis Hamilton.

At Valencia, Grosjean was running second when the car's electronics malfunctioned forcing Grosjean's first mechanical-related retirement of the season. At the British Grand Prix, Grosjean topped the timesheets during the first free practice session, but qualifying did not go as well; at the end of Q2 he spun into the gravel at the final corner after managing to get into Q3, this meant he could not take any further part in qualifying and started from tenth, although he was promoted to ninth after Nico Hülkenberg received a grid penalty. At the start of the race he was involved in an incident with Paul di Resta, which forced a pit stop for a new front wing. However Grosjean fought back through the field to finish in sixth just behind his team mate. At the German Grand Prix, Grosjean started nineteenth due to a gearbox penalty and finished eighteenth after picking up a puncture on lap one. A week later, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Grosjean qualified second, the first time a French Formula One driver had started on the front row of the grid since Alesi at the 1999 French Grand Prix; Grosjean finished third in the race behind Hamilton and teammate Räikkönen.

At Spa Grosjean caused a multi-car pile-up at the start of the race, with Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez all eliminated from the race as well as Grosjean; the incident was started when Grosjean drove into Hamilton on the approach to the La Source corner. Grosjean was given a one race ban post-race (the first driver to be banned since Michael Schumacher in 1994), as well as a fine of €50,000, with the FIA saying in a statement "The stewards regard this incident as an extremely serious breach of the regulations, which had the potential to cause injury to others. It eliminated leading championship contenders from the race. The stewards note [that] the team conceded the action was an extremely serious mistake and an error of judgement. Neither the team nor the driver made any submission in mitigation of penalty." He was replaced for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix by Lotus test and reserve driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio. His team boss, Éric Boullier said that Grosjean learned an important lesson following his ban, however at the Japanese Grand Prix, Grosjean crashed into Mark Webber at the first corner with Webber branding him a "first lap nutcase". Grosjean's actions were condemned by many drivers in the paddock. At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Grosjean was involved in another first lap incident. In São Paulo Grosjean hit the back of Pedro de la Rosa's HRT in qualifying.

On 14–16 December Grosjean won the Race of Champions after a Grand Final victory over Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok. The day before Grosjean finished in second place in the Nations' Cup event along with his teammate Sébastien Ogier in the French team, after defeat by Germany's Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher.

On 17 December 2012, it was confirmed to Grosjean would stay at Lotus for the 2013 season.

2013

He had three points-scoring finishes at the three opening races before receiving a new chassis to help his chances at Bahrain; he qualified 11th and climbed to third. At the next race in Spain, his suspension failed on lap 9. At the Monaco Grand Prix, Grosjean had three crashes during the practice sessions, leading his team principal, Boullier, to tell Grosjean to "wake up". He qualified 13th but his race ended when he crashed into the back of Daniel Ricciardo, earning him a 10-place grid penalty for the next race. At the Canadian Grand Prix he started last on the grid due to the grid penalty, but ran as high as eighth in the race before finishing 13th as he had to stop for a third time due to heavy tyre wear. On the first lap of the British Grand Prix, Grosjean made contact with Mark Webber, damaging the front wing of Webber's car. Grosjean retired on the last lap while in 8th position due to serious front wing damage. At the German Grand Prix after qualifying 5th he led the race for a while and seemed to be on a faster pace than Sebastian Vettel but the intervention of the safety car changed the race. He was forced to let his team mate Kimi Räikkönen pass towards the end of the race as Räikkönen had faster tyres. Grosjean resisted Fernando Alonso to earn his second podium of the season behind Vettel and Räikkönen.

At the Hungarian Grand Prix Grosjean qualified 3rd on the grid, but finished the race in 6th position after receiving a drive through penalty for crossing the white line as he overtook Felipe Massa. After the race, he was given a further 20-second time penalty for colliding with Jenson Button, however this did not affect his final position. At the Belgian Grand Prix Grosjean qualified 7th on the grid, and Lotus chose to operate a one stop strategy on Grosjean's car. Later in the race he was sent off track by Sergio Pérez while Pérez was attempting an overtake – Pérez received a drive through penalty for the incident. Grosjean finished the race in 8th position after being overtaken by Massa towards the end of the race. At the Italian Grand Prix Grosjean qualified 13th as both Lotuses showed slow pace in practice. After a slow pit stop he came back to finish in 8th after many overtaking moves and resisting Lewis Hamilton on the last lap. In Singapore Grosjean had a difficult weekend full of mechanical problems; and despite qualifying 3rd, he was forced to retire due to an engine issue. At the Korean Grand Prix he qualified 4th and was moved up to third on the grid after a grid penalty for Webber. He made a good start in which he overtook Hamilton and was closing on Vettel until the safety car came out. This intervention aided Räikkönen's progression up the order, and after a small mistake, Grosjean was overtaken by his team mate. Grosjean maintained position behind Räikkönen and secured his third podium of the season, in third.

The next weekend, at Suzuka, he qualified 4th. After a poor start by the Red Bulls on the front row, Grosjean took the lead into the first corner and showed good pace compared to the Red Bulls behind him, leading almost half the race. Vettel passed him on lap 28 and he was also later overtaken by Mark Webber, and finished 3rd for the second straight race. In India, Grosjean failed to reach Q2 on medium tyres in order to save softer tyres, and he ultimately qualified 17th. In the race, he had a longer first stint with soft tyres in order to apply a one pit stop strategy that worked perfectly as he finished 3rd behind Vettel and Rosberg after overtaking Massa and then Räikkönen who forced him off the track on his first overtaking attempt. At Abu Dhabi, after qualifying 7th (and being promoted to 6th due to teammate Räikkönen's penalty), he had another strong start and strong race, finishing 4th. At the United States Grand Prix, Grosjean had a good qualifying session and earned a 3rd spot on the grid behind Vettel and Webber. In the race, Grosjean had a strong start once again, by overtaking Webber and nearly overtaking Vettel. Leading a lap during the pit stop phase, Grosjean finished 2nd by holding off Webber despite numerous overtaking attempts.

On 29 November 2013, it was confirmed that Grosjean would continue with Lotus in 2014.

2014

A new rule for the 2014 season allowed the drivers to pick a car number to use for their entire career. Grosjean was awarded his first choice of number 8. He explained his choice of number on his Facebook page: "Simply I like this number, plus it has some signification to me. My wife was born on 8 December, we started dating in 2008 and besides, to my eyes my son is the 8th wonder of the world. That's why I picked up number 8." At the Hungarian Grand Prix Grosjean spun and crashed his car whilst following the safety car.

2015

In 2015, Lotus produced a much better car, which was powered by a Mercedes engine. Grosjean showed great potential in testing, but mechanical problems in Australia and a spin after contact with Sergio Pérez in Malaysia prevented Grosjean from scoring points. But after the first two troubled races, Grosjean recorded good performances in China and Bahrain, finishing 7th on both occasions. In Spain, Lotus struggled in practice and qualifying and Grosjean missed out on Q3 for the first time in the season. But in the race, his pace improved and he finished 8th, despite making contact with Pastor Maldonado in the opening laps and a mistake in the pits, both of which cost him some time. In Monaco, Grosjean was on for his fourth consecutive points finish, despite a grid penalty for a gearbox change, but he was hit by Max Verstappen while battling for position. Grosjean managed to rejoin, but lost time and finished 12th.

In Canada, Lotus had one of the fastest cars and Grosjean qualified in an impressive 5th place. In the race, he was in the top 5, but made contact with the Marussia of Will Stevens, which punctured his tyre. Grosjean had to pit for new tyres, but managed to recover and finished in the points. In Austria, he was racing in the top 10, but he had a mechanical issue and could not finish the race. In Great Britain, he retired on lap 1 after contact with Daniel Ricciardo and teammate Maldonado. In Hungary, he struggled again and even had a penalty for an unsafe release in the pits. But near the end of the race, he made up a lot of positions due to other drivers having problems. In the end, he managed to repeat his best finish of the season of 7th, finishing ahead of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes. In Belgium, Lotus again had one of the fastest cars and Grosjean qualified in 4th, but started 9th, because of a penalty. In the race, he consistently gained positions, and a few laps before the finish, Grosjean was running 4th. Ahead of him was Vettel, who was on very old tyres, and Grosjean caught up with him with 5 laps to go. He was not able to overtake, but Vettel's right rear tyre exploded on the penultimate lap. Grosjean moved into the podium positions, to record his first such result since 2013. After the race, Grosjean said that he cried on the last lap.

In Italy Grosjean once again made it into Q3, qualifying in 8th, but was involved in some contact in turn 1, which caused his retirement. In Singapore, he was forced to retire a few laps before the end because of a suspected gearbox issue. In Japan, Grosjean was in 6th place after the start but lost a position during the first stops to Nico Hülkenberg. Near the end of the race, he was under pressure from Maldonado, who had closed the gap to just over a second, but Grosjean managed to retain his 7th position to the finish and scored points for the first time since Belgium.

Haas (2016–present)

2016

On 29 September 2015, it was announced that Grosjean would race for the Haas F1 Team, who were joining the Formula One grid for the 2016 season. He was partnered by former Sauber driver and Ferrari test driver Esteban Gutiérrez. In the team's first race, the Australian Grand Prix, Grosjean finished sixth to record Haas' first points and making them the first team since Toyota Racing to score points in their debut. He was eventually voted Formula One's first Driver of the Day. Grosjean scored again in the following Bahrain Grand Prix by finishing in fifth position, winning Driver of the Day again.

Following Jenson Button's retirement from full time racing, the members of the GPDA elected Grosjean to replace Button as one of the directors of the GPDA in May 2017.

Personal life

Grosjean married French journalist and television presenter Marion Jollès Grosjean on 27 June 2012 in Chamonix. They have been together with since 2008. On 29 July 2013, they gave birth to a son, Sacha. They have a second child named Simon who was born on 16 May 2015

Career summary

† As Grosjean was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series record

(key)

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

(key)

^† Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as they had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
* Season still in progress.

Complete Auto GP results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Personal life

Grosjean married his long-term partner, Marion Jollès (who works for French TV channel TF1 as a motorsport reporter), at Chamonix on 27 June 2012. On 29 July 2013 she gave birth to a son, Sacha. Their second son Simon was born on 16 May 2015.

In 2014 Grosjean was featured in French disc jockey David Guetta's music video titled "Dangerous".