Romain Grosjean
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Romain Grosjean (born April 17, 1986 in Geneva, Switzerland) is a racing driver, who holds dual nationality from France and Switzerland,[1][2] but competes under a French racing licence.[3] He was the 2007 Formula Three Euroseries drivers' champion and the inaugural GP2 Asia Series champion.
Early racing career
Grosjean won all ten rounds of the 2003 Swiss Formula Renault 1.6 championship and moved to the French Formula Renault championship for 2004.[2]
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.[2]
With his results and potential in the Formula Renault series, Romain joined the Renault Driver Development for the continuation of is career.[4]
Formula Three
Grosjean made his F3 debut at the demanding Macau Guia circuit, standing in for Loic Duval at Signature-Plus. He qualified 19th and raced to ninth, beating team-mates Fabio Carbone and Guillaume Moreau.[2]
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.[2]
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.[2] 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.[5] 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.[6]
Grosjean took pole position for the prestigious Masters of F3 race at Zolder but finished 14th after stalling at the start.[7]
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 season.[8] His team-mates were Luca Filippi[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] Victory in the sprint race at Istanbul, the fourth round of the season, moved Grosjean into second place in the championship.[12] 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 Nicolas 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.[13]
Formula One
Grosjean was confirmed as Renault's test driver for 2008, replacing Nelson Piquet, Jr. who graduated to a race seat.[14] 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 June 7 and June 8, 2008 where he gave a number of demonstrations of the previous year's R27 car. He initially continued in the test driver role at Renault for 2009, but took over Piquet's seat from the European Grand Prix onwards.[15] Grosjean qualified 14th at the European Grand Prix in 2009. He was knocked out of Q2 0.323 secs off the pace of team mate Fernando Alonso.
Personal Life
Apart from being a racing driver, Grosjean has a job at a bank in his home town Geneva.[16]
Racing record
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 | 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 | ITA | SIN | JPN | BRA | ABU | 22nd* | 0* |
* Season in progress.
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 |
ALG FEA |
ALG SPR |
3rd* | 45* |
* Season in progress.
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 | UAE FEA 1 |
UAE SPR 1 |
IND FEA 4 |
IND SPR 4 |
MAL FEA 9 |
MAL SPR 2 |
BHR FEA 1 |
BHR SPR Ret |
UAE FEA 1 |
UAE SPR Ret |
1st | 61 |
References
- ^ Domenjoz, Luc (2008-07-06). "Romain Grosjean en route vers la F1". Le Matin.ch (in French). Edipresse Publications SA. Retrieved 2009-08-09.
Fin 2005, bien aidé par sa licence française de pilote (il bénéficie de la double nationalité, par sa mère française), le Genevois signe un contrat avec le RDD, le Renault Driver Development (At the end of 2005, helped by his French racing license (he benefits from dual nationality thanks to his French mother), the Genevan signed a contract with RDD, Renault Driver Development)
- ^ a b c d e f "Meet the rookies: Romain Grosjean". F1Fanatic.co.uk. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ Noble, Jonathan (2009-08-18). "10 facts about Romain Grosjean". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
- ^ "Romain ID". Romain-Grosjean.com. 2006. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ "F3 Euro Mugello 1: Grosjean moves ahead". MaximumMotorsport.co.uk. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ Bradley, Charles. Grosjean takes title autosport.com, 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
- ^ "Hülkenberg wins F3 Masters as Grosjean stalls". MaximumMotorsport.co.uk. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
- ^ "Grosjean to race for ART in 2008". autosport.com. 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2007-12-11.
- ^ "Filippi confirmed at ART for 2008". autosport.com. 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
- ^ "Alvaro Parente wins on GP2 debut in Barcelona". maximummotorsport.co.uk. 2008-04-26. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- ^ "Kobayashi triumphs as Grosjean cracks under pressure". maximummotorsport.co.uk. 2008-04-27. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- ^ "Eight cars crash on first lap, Bruno Senna hits a dog, it's another GP2 sprint race". maximummotorsport.co.uk. 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
- ^ "Maldonado signs for ART". crash.net.
- ^ "Alonso, Piquet, Grosjean with Renault..." uk.eurosport.yahoo.com. 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
- ^ English, Steven (2009-08-18). "Renault confirms Grosjean in, Piquet out". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
- ^ http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/08/26/grosjean-not-willing-to-give-up-second-job-at-the-bank/
External links
- 1986 births
- Living people
- People from Geneva
- French racecar drivers
- French Formula One drivers
- Swiss racecar drivers
- French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers
- Swiss Formula Renault 2.0 drivers
- Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 drivers
- Formula Three Euroseries drivers
- British Formula Three Championship drivers
- GP2 Series drivers
- GP2 Series Champions