Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean

Grosjean in 2012
Born	(1986-04-17) 17 April 1986 Geneva, Switzerland
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	French
2013 team	Lotus-Renault
2013 car #	8
Races	32 (31 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	4
Career points	122
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First race	2009 European Grand Prix
Last race	2013 Spanish Grand Prix
2012 position	8th (96 pts)

Romain Grosjean
Previous series
2010 2010 2009, 2012 2008–11 2008, 2011 2006–07 2004–05 2004–05 2003	Auto GP FIA GT1 World Championship Formula One GP2 Series GP2 Asia Series Formula Three Euroseries Formula Renault Eurocup French Formula Renault Swiss Formula Renault 1.6
Championship titles
2011 2011 2010 2008 2007 2005 2003	GP2 Series GP2 Asia Series Auto GP GP2 Asia Series Formula Three Euroseries French Formula Renault Swiss Formula Renault 1.6

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	2010
Teams	Matech Competition
Best finish	DNF (2010)
Class wins	0

Romain Grosjean (French pronunciation: ​[ʁomɛ̃ gʁoʒɑ̃]; born 17 April 1986) is a racing driver, currently racing for the Lotus F1 Team. He races under the French flag in Formula One although he has lived his entire life in Switzerland.^{[citation needed]} He was the 2007 Formula Three Euroseries drivers' champion and the inaugural GP2 Asia Series champion and first drove in Formula One in 2009. He is the 2011 GP2 Asia Series and GP2 Series champion and is the first – and as of April 2012, only – two-time GP2 Asia champion and the only driver to hold both the GP2 Asia series and main GP2 series titles simultaneously.

In 2012, Grosjean returned to Formula One with the Lotus F1 Team, alongside Kimi Räikkönen.

Career

Early racing career

Grosjean was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He won all ten rounds of the 2003 Swiss Formula Renault 1.6 championship and moved to the French Formula Renault championship for 2004.

He was seventh in that first season with one win and 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, Romain joined the Renault Driver Development programme for the continuation of his career.

Formula Three

Grosjean made his F3 debut at the demanding Macau Guia Circuit, standing in for Loïc Duval at Signature-Plus. He qualified 19th and raced to ninth, beating team-mates Fabio Carbone and Guillaume Moreau.

He did a full season in the Formula Three Euroseries in 2006 but had a tough year, taking only one podium finish and ending the year 13th. But 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 F3 Euroseries for 2007 but stepped up to ASM Formule 3, 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 F3 race at Zolder but finished 14th after stalling at the start.

GP2 Series

Grosjean driving for ART Grand Prix at the Silverstone round of the 2008 GP2 Series season.

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 season. 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 Three Euroseries season 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.

Grosjean made his Formula One debut at the 2009 European Grand Prix.

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 strugling 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

Grosjean driving a Ford GT at Silverstone

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 second place man 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 won the 2011 GP2 Asia Series and GP2 Series championships on his full-time return to the category.

Grosjean returned to GP2 full-time with DAMS for the 2011 GP2 Series and 2011 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.

Return to Formula One

Grosjean driving for Lotus at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix.

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 Friday practice session in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (replacing Senna) and the Brazilian Grand Prix (replacing Petrov).

Lotus (2012–present)

Grosjean at the 2012 United States Grand Prix.

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.

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 Jean Alesi at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. At the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix, he collected his second F1 podium with a career best finish of second, behind Lewis Hamilton.

Grosjean at the 2012 British Grand Prix

At Valencia, Grosjean was running second when the car's electronics malfunctioned forcing the Frenchman's first mechanical-related retirement of the season. At the British Grand Prix, Grosjean topped the timesheets during Practice 1 on Friday, but qualifying did not go as well. Right 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 took a grid penalty. At the start of the race he was involved in an incident with Paul di Resta as the Force India driver clipped Grosjean's front wing meaning he had to pit for a new one. 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 Jean Alesi at the 1999 French Grand Prix; Grosjean finished third in the race behind Hamilton and teammate Räikkönen.

Grosjean has been involved in a number of first-lap accidents in his first full season of F1, including this collision with Mark Webber at the first corner of the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix.

At Spa Grosjean caused a multicar pile-up at the start of the race, with Lewis 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 just one Grand Prix later Grosjean crashed into Mark Webber at the first corner with the Australian branding him a "First Lap Nutcase". Grosjean's actions have been condemned by many drivers in the paddock. At Abu Dhabi 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 December 14–16 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 got the second place in Nations' Cup event along with his teammate Sébastien Ogier in the French team. The winners were Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher from the German team.

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

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2003	Renault Speed Trophy F2000	?	10	10	?	?	10	?	1st
2004	French Formula Renault	SG Formula	?	1	?	?	4	?	7th
	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup		9	0	0	0	0	32	14th
2005	French Formula Renault	SG Formula	16	10	10	0	13	211	1st
	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0		7	0	0	0	2	28	12th
2006	Formula 3 Euro Series	Signature-Plus	20	0	0	0	1	19	13th
	British Formula Three Championship		2	2	1	2	2	0	NC†
2007	Formula 3 Euro Series	ASM Formule 3	20	6	4	7	13	106	1st
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	1	0	0	N/A	14th
2008	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	20	2	1	2	6	62	4th
	GP2 Asia Series		10	4	4	3	5	61	1st
	Formula One	ING Renault F1 Team	Test driver
2009	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	12	2	3	2	3	45	4th
	Formula One	ING Renault F1 Team	7	0	0	0	0	0	23rd
2010	GP2 Series	DAMS	8	0	0	0	2	14	14th
	Auto GP		8	4	3	4	7	58	1st
	FIA GT1 World Championship	Matech Competition	10	2	0	0	3	62	11th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
	24 Hours of Spa	Gravity International	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	16th
2011	GP2 Series	DAMS	18	5	1	6	10	89	1st
	GP2 Asia Series		4	1	2	2	2	24	1st
	Formula One	Lotus Renault GP	Test driver
2012	Formula One	Lotus F1 Team	19	0	0	1	3	96	8th
2013	Formula One	Lotus F1 Team	5	0	0	0	1	26	7th*

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

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series record

(key)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2006	Signature-Plus	Dallara F305/029	Mercedes	HOC1 1 21	HOC1 2 13	LAU 1 6	LAU 2 4	OSC 1 3	OSC 2 6	BRH 1 9	BRH 2 6	NOR 1 12	NOR 2 8	NÜR 1 18	NÜR 2 10	ZAN 1 4	ZAN 2 11	CAT 1 Ret	CAT 2 9	BUG 1 20	BUG 2 12	HOC2 1 DSQ	HOC2 2 DSQ	13th	19
2007	ASM Formule 3	Dallara F305/059	Mercedes	HOC1 1 5	HOC1 2 1	BRH 1 1	BRH 2 Ret	NOR 1 1	NOR 2 Ret	MAG 1 2	MAG 2 7	MUG 1 1	MUG 2 2	ZAN 1 1	ZAN 2 3	NÜR 1 5	NÜR 2 2	CAT 1 8	CAT 2 DSQ	NOG 1 1	NOG 2 3	HOC2 1 2	HOC2 2 3	1st	106

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Points
2008	ART Grand Prix	ESP FEA 5	ESP SPR 13	TUR FEA 2	TUR SPR 1	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR 10	FRA FEA Ret	FRA SPR Ret	GBR FEA 5	GBR SPR 8	GER FEA 2	GER SPR 4	HUN FEA 17	HUN SPR 12	EUR FEA 3	EUR SPR Ret	BEL FEA 1	BEL SPR 9	ITA FEA 4	ITA SPR 3	4th	62
2009	Barwa Addax	ESP FEA 1	ESP SPR 2	MON FEA 1	MON SPR 17	TUR FEA Ret	TUR SPR 12	GBR FEA 5	GBR SPR 4	GER FEA 18	GER SPR 5	HUN FEA 10	HUN SPR 4	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	BEL FEA	BEL SPR	ITA FEA	ITA SPR	POR FEA	POR SPR	4th	45
2010	DAMS	ESP FEA	ESP SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	TUR FEA	TUR SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	GBR FEA	GBR SPR	GER FEA 20	GER SPR 19	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	BEL FEA 3	BEL SPR 6	ITA FEA 13	ITA SPR 17	ABU FEA 6	ABU SPR 3	14th	14
2011	DAMS	TUR FEA 1	TUR SPR 10	ESP FEA DSQ	ESP SPR 9	MON FEA 4	MON SPR 3	VAL FEA 1	VAL SPR Ret	GBR FEA 4	GBR SPR 1	GER FEA 3	GER SPR 1	HUN FEA 1	HUN SPR 3	BEL FEA 3	BEL SPR 4	ITA FEA 3	ITA SPR 21			1st	89

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
2008	ART Grand Prix	DUB1 FEA 1	DUB1 SPR 1	IDN FEA 4	IDN SPR 4	MAL FEA 9	MAL SPR 2	BHR FEA 1	BHR SPR Ret	DUB2 FEA 1	DUB2 SPR Ret	1st	61
2011	DAMS	ABU FEA 2	ABU SPR Ret	ITA FEA 1	ITA SPR 7							1st	24

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	WDC	Points
2009	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault R29	Renault RS27 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	TUR	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR 15	BEL Ret	ITA 15								23rd	0
	Renault F1 Team																SIN Ret	JPN 16	BRA 13	ABU 18
2011	Lotus Renault GP	Renault R31	Renault RS27 2.4 V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	TUR	ESP	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR	IND	ABU TD	BRA TD		–	–
2012	Lotus F1 Team	Lotus E20	Renault RS27-2012 2.4 V8	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	CHN 6	BHR 3	ESP 4	MON Ret	CAN 2	EUR Ret	GBR 6	GER 18	HUN 3	BEL Ret	ITA	SIN 7	JPN 19†	KOR 7	IND 9	ABU Ret	USA 7	BRA Ret	8th	96
2013	Lotus F1 Team	Lotus E21	Renault RS27-2012 2.4 V8	AUS 10	MAL 6	CHN 9	BHR 3	ESP Ret	MON	CAN	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	KOR	JPN	IND	ABU	USA	BRA		7th*	26*

* Season in progress.

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2010	Matech Competition	Ford	ABU QR 2	ABU CR 1	SIL QR 21	SIL CR Ret	BRN QR 6	BRN CR 1	PRI QR 7	PRI CR 7	SPA QR 20	SPA CR 14	NÜR QR	NÜR CR	ALG QR	ALG CR	NAV QR	NAV CR	INT QR	INT CR	SAN QR	SAN CR	11th	62

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2010	Matech Competition	Thomas Mutsch Jonathan Hirschi	Ford GT1	GT1	171	DNF	DNF

Complete Auto GP results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
2010	DAMS	BRN 1	BRN 2	IMO 1	IMO 2	SPA 1 1	SPA 2 2	MAG 1 1	MAG 2 Ret	NAV 1 3	NAV 2 1	MNZ 1 1	MNZ 2 3	1st	58

Personal life

Apart from being a racing driver, Grosjean has a job at a bank in his home town Geneva. He married his long-term partner, Marion Jollès (who works for French TV channel TF1 as a motorsport reporter), at Chamonix on 27 June 2012.

External links

• Official website
• Romain Grosjean on Twitter
• Romain Grosjean at the Internet Movie Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Damian Sawicki	Formula Lista Junior Champion 2003	Succeeded by Harald Schlegelmilch
Preceded by Patrick Pilet	French Formula Renault 2.0 Drivers' Champion 2005	Succeeded by Laurent Groppi
Preceded by Paul di Resta	Formula 3 Euro Series Champion 2007	Succeeded by Nico Hülkenberg
Preceded by None	GP2 Asia Series Drivers' Champion 2008	Succeeded by Kamui Kobayashi
Preceded by Will Bratt	Auto GP Drivers' Champion 2010	Succeeded by Kevin Ceccon
Preceded by Davide Valsecchi	GP2 Asia Series Drivers' Champion 2011	Succeeded by Series folded
Preceded by Pastor Maldonado	GP2 Series Champion 2011	Succeeded by Davide Valsecchi
Preceded by Sébastien Ogier	Race of Champions Champion of Champions 2012	Succeeded by Incumbent