Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean, born on 17 April 1986 in Geneva and racing under the French flag, was a quick and emotional driver whose Formula 1 career ran from a brief 2009 cameo to a dramatic conclusion in 2020. He first appeared with Renault in 2009 before earning a full-time return with the team's successor, Lotus, in 2012, where he rapidly developed into a regular podium contender.

Grosjean enjoyed his most successful years at Lotus from 2012 to 2015, taking all 10 of his career podiums during this period and finishing seventh in the championship in 2013. In 2016 he made the bold move to join the brand-new Haas F1 Team, scoring points on the American outfit's very first weekend and serving as their lead driver through to 2020. Across 181 starts he recorded 10 podiums, a fastest lap and 391 points, although a grand prix victory always eluded him.

His F1 career ended with one of the sport's most shocking accidents, the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, where his car split in two and burst into flames on impact; Grosjean escaped the inferno after some 28 seconds, his survival a powerful testament to modern safety standards and the halo device. He subsequently moved to the United States to race in IndyCar, taking podium finishes and pole positions, and also competed in sports car racing.

Grosjean was blessed with outstanding natural speed, especially over a single qualifying lap, but his early F1 years were marked by first-lap incidents that earned criticism before he matured into a more measured competitor. His legacy is defined as much by his extraordinary survival in Bahrain, which underscored the value of decades of safety progress, as by his on-track results, and he reinvented himself successfully in American open-wheel racing.