Romain Grosjean

**Romain David Jeremie Grosjean** (French: [ʁɔmɛ̃ ɡʁoʒɑ̃]; born 17 April 1986) is a Swiss-French professional racing driver, that competed under the French flag in Formula 1.5 picking up 17 podiums with Lotus and Haas.

## Personal 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, silver medalist in giant slalom at the 1950 World Ski Championship in Aspen.

## F1.5 Career

### Renault (2009)

#### 2009 Season

Grosjean 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. He finished 7th in the race after a first-lap collision with Luca Badoer necessitated a stop for a new front wing. At the next race in Belgium, he was eliminated on the first lap after a collision with Jenson Button. After qualifying high at the Italian Grand Prix he made a poor start, damaged his car with contact at the first corner, spun on the second lap, and finished 6th. He described himself as "very disappointed" after the race.

Grosjean qualified low down for the Singapore Grand Prix, experiencing problems with the brakes. He was hopeful of making progress in the race, but the brake problems reappeared, forcing him to retire after just three laps. At the Brazilian Grand Prix, Grosjean suffered an accident in practice, although he escaped unhurt. He would go on to finish the race 4th, the highest position he finished a race in the 2009 season.

On 31 January 2010, after the end of the season news reports had doubts that Grosjean would keep his seat into 2010, Renault confirmed that Grosjean's former GP2 teammate 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 1.5 drive for 2010.

### Lotus (2014- 2015)

#### 2014 Season

Romain returned to F1.5 in 2015 after a five year hiatus. He returned with Lotus at the start of the new hybrid era. 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."

Grosjean took his maiden F1.5 pole in 2014 at the Spanish Grand Prix, he would fail to win the race but did convert it into a madien podium of third place. This was the only time he ended up on the podium during the 2014 season. Grosjean outscored his teammate Maldonado by 16 points in the season, finishing with a total of 74 points.

#### 2015 Season

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 stopped the Frenchman from scoring points in the first race of the year. In Malaysia he made contact with Perez that spun him round and finished the race 7th. But after the first two troubled races, Grosjean recorded good performances in China and Bahrain, finishing 3rd 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 4th, despite making contact with Pastor Maldonado in the opening laps and a mistake in the pits, both of which cost him some time. In Belgium Grosjean took his maiden win after starting further down the grid, he later said he cried on the last lap on the Grand Prix.

### Haas (2016-2020)

#### 2016 Season

On 29 September 2015, it was announced that Grosjean would race for the Haas Team, who were joining the Formula 1.5 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 second to record Haas' first points and first podium. Grosjean scored another podium again in the following Bahrain Grand Prix by taking the win, making it Haas' fist win in F1.5. Grosjean scored consitantly through the season, taking one more podium at Austria. Grosjean qualified on pole for the Brazil GP but didn't start the race after he crashed on the outlap to the grid in wet conditions.

He finished the season 7th in the standings with 137 points outscoring his teammate by 57 points.

#### 2017 Season

Grosjean drove for Haas for the 2017 season where he partnered Kevin Magnussen. He qualified on pole position for the opening race of the season and led for much of the race until he retired due to a water leak. Grosjean took his first podium of the season at Bahrain with a third place finish, then took another just a few race's later at Monaco to finish 2nd.

He qualified on pole for the Austrian GP and turned it into victory, his first of the season, then finishing 2nd at the Belgian GP.

Grosjean finished the season 6th with 149 points outscoring Magnussen by 44 points.

#### 2018 Season

Haas retained Grosjean for the 2018 season where he again partnered Magnussen. Grosjean retrired from the lead for the 2nd year running in Australia after a wheel was not fitted propperly during a pitstop. At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Grosjean crashed behind the safety car whilst running in 6th place. His engineer incorrectly blamed the cause of the crash on Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson, saying, "I think Ericsson hit us." At the Spanish Grand Prix, Grosjean was the cause of a crash on the opening lap. Whilst making his way through turn 3, he lost control of his Haas after running through dirty air. This caused him to spin across the track into the path of the cars behind him, causing a large amount of smoke in the process. He was then hit by Hülkenberg and Gasly, eliminating all three from the race.

At the Austrian GP Grosjean took his first podium and victory of the year after starting from pole position. Just two races later he returned to the podium with a 2nd place at Germany. His third podium of the season came after the summer break at Belgium with a third place finish. Grosjean was disqualified from the Italian Grand Prix after the floor of his car was found to be illegal, taking away a podium finish; although the team appealed this, the decision was upheld.

Grosjean finished the season 8th in the standings with 149 points. For the first time since joining Haas, Grosjean was outscored by his teammate, with Magnussen outscoring him by 54 points.

#### 2019 Season

On 28 September 2018 it was confirmed that Haas would retain Grosjean for the 2019 season, again partnering Magnussen. Like his 2018 season, Grosjean's 2019 was plagued with reliability issues, poor luck and driver errors. Additionally, the Haas VF-19 suffered from poor pace throughout the season, often qualifying well but falling far behind during races.

The first two races saw a double retirement for Grosjean. In Australia, a wheel was incorrectly fitted during a pit stop, causing it to come loose on track in an extremely similar incident to his race in Australia the year before. In Bahrain he was hit by Lance Stroll on the opening lap, causing terminal damage. Grosjean took pole at Spain but came home fourth, which would be his best result all year.

Grosjean scored just 69 points in the championship to finish 13th in the championship.

#### 2020 Season

On 19 September 2019, Haas announced that Grosjean would remain with the team for the 2020 season alongside Magnussen.

At the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, Grosjean suffered a serious crash on the first lap in which his Haas VF-20 hit a barrier at high speed, splitting the car in half, releasing the fuel and making the car burn. The force and angle of the impact caused the driver's compartment and the front half of the car to be wedged into the barrier, while the rear half was separated from the rest of the vehicle, igniting the car immediately upon impact.

The impact was measured at 67 *g* (660 m/s2; 2,200 ft/s2). He was able to exit the car unaided, and was helped away from the crash scene by Alan van der Merwe and Ian Roberts, with minor burn injuries to his hands and ankles before being airlifted to a nearby military hospital. The crash caused a red flag for more than an hour to recover the chassis and repair the damaged barrier section. The halo-head protective device, introduced in Formula 1.5 in 2018, was credited with saving his life: it sheltered Grosjean's head and body from coming into contact with the barrier upon collision. Grosjean ultimately missed the last 2 races of the season, and was replaced by Pietro Fittipaldi.

Grosjean's contract with Haas was not renewed after 2020. He underwent surgery for his injuries on 16 December.