Romain Grosjean

Profile Romain Grosjean

Geneva-born Romain Grosjean became champion in a number of junior classes but when he made his first F1 appearance in 2009, it was a little too early: RoGro was clearly still short of the highest level.

After Grosjean scored another three titles, Lotus dared to take him on and gave him a return to Formula 1 alongside Kimi Raikkonen. The first season came with ups and downs - and even a suspension for his part in a nasty first-corner crash in Belgium.

In the second Lotus year, Grosjean starred firmly at the front, even edging towards victory on a number of occasions. After Lotus' decline in 2014-15, Grosjean decided to set course for the new Haas team, for which he was active until 2020.

Romain Grosjean crash

After four seasons, he was told he would not get a seat for 2021 and so his career came to an end. To make matters worse, the Frenchman was involved in a frightening crash in Bahrain near the end of the season but miraculously escaped to tell the tale.

Grosjean speared into the wall at 200kph on the exit of Turn 3. The chassis was broken in two and a huge inferno ensued. Miraculously, he got out by himself and suffered some serious burns, although this was far better than what could have been.

After the crash, Romain Grosjean underwent multiple surgeries on his hands, which were badly burnt. Almost a year after the crash, he received a skin graft, which removed some of his second-degree burns.

After this horror crash, he had to skip the last two races of the season and his career in the premier class was prematurely ended.

His charred Haas was on display in Madrid in 2023 and will return with the F1 Exhibition when it moves to Vienna in 2024.

Romain Grosjean to IndyCar

His crash and no longer having a seat in Formula 1 did not stop him from continuing his racing career.

Despite the crash and losing his seat for 2021, he found a new challenge in the United States. Grosjean joined Dale Coyne Racing in IndyCar and after a year, he made the switch to the Andretti team and emerged as an IndyCar public favourite.

He continued with the team in 2023 but is assessing his options for 2024, where any programme will be doubled with the Lamborghini Hypercar programme.