Grosjean, Romain

Married. ^[5] He and his wife Marion have sons Sasha (born 2013) ^[6] and Simon (born 2015), ^[7] as well as a daughter Camilla (born 2017). ^[eight]

He first tried himself in motorsport in 2000 - taking part in a number of karting competitions. Pretty quickly, Grosjean was able to fight on equal terms with the leaders of the peloton of various status competitions. In 2001, he won the French championship in the ICA class, two years later made his debut in the "formula" type races, taking part in the 1.6-liter class Formula Renault series races in Switzerland and Italy. Grosjean quickly mastered the new technology, winning several races and winning the Swiss Championship title. The next couple of years he spent on a more powerful technique - in the French and European Formula Renault 2.0 . In the second season in the dominant style he won the junior championship, in the pan-European series Grosjean also showed good results, but missed too many stages to fight for high positions in the overall standings. The success of the young pilot was interested in the motorsport division of the Renault concern, which included it in its support program for young pilots and provided stable funding for a long career period.

2006-07, Grosjean spent in racing on the technology of Formula 3 , focusing on the Euroseries . The first year was spent on learning new technology, and in the second he again fought for the title: having gained six victories in twenty races of the main season, he was able to beat Sebastien Buemi and Nico Hulkenberg in the stability of the results and won the title. Single starts were less successful - a total of five times taking part in the Zandvoort Masters and the Grand Prix of Macau , Grosjean was never able to finish above fifth place. Then he spent two seasons in races using the GP2 technique, immediately winning the warm-up Asian championship and in the first season, taking fourth place in the main championship. In 2009, Grosjean for a long time was the leader in the individual competition, won two races, but left the series in the middle of the championship, replacing the dismissed Nelsinho Piquet in the Renault Formula 1 team . The Franco-British team at that time was in a crisis period of its history, and even its leader - Fernando Alonso - periodically struggled with difficulty for getting into the points zone. Grosjean, sitting behind the wheel of the second car without a proper test run, before the end of the season had never finished above thirteenth place, remembered only by participation in a number of accidents.

At the end of the season, the team changed leadership, and the new owners brought other pilots with them. Grosjean was out of the race for some time, but soon got a second chance - the new owners of the team from Enstone included him in their support program, arranging in minor European series, where he raced for the next two seasons. He spent the season in Auto GP (he won the title with a comfortable margin, despite missing a third of the championship), as well as one and a half seasons in GP2 and a season in GP2 Asia (each title - and for the pilots of his DAMS team, the overall victory in the main GP2 championship was the first such success since 1994). At the same time, Grosjean also tried himself in bodywork races, starting in the daily marathons in Le Mans , Spa and taking part in the FIA ​​GT1 World Championship (in the latter he won several races).

Lotus (2012—2015)

In 2012, Grosjean returned to Formula 1, with the support of Total, signing a contract with the main pilot of the Estonian team, which changed its name to Lotus . The second entry to the World Cup was more successful than the previous one - the team got out of the previous period of failures and in 2012-13 was one of the leaders of the peloton. At the end of this segment, Grosjean began regularly ahead of his experienced and titled team-mate Kimi Raikkonen , periodically fighting for victories. The first year was filled with many technical failures and Grozhan’s own mistakes, for one of which he was disqualified at the Italian Grand Prix in 2012 (at the previous race in Belgium , Grozhan’s careless maneuvers at the start led to a serious mass accident involving one of the leaders championship). ^[9]

2014

The competitive period of the team, however, did not last long - the Lotus owners could not constantly attract the right amount of sponsorship, which is why they could not keep all the members of their technical headquarters and partially saved on the development of the 2014 machine. These actions brought the team a significant decline in results in 2014 and serious problems with reliability. For 19 races of the season, Grosjean only twice finished in the points zone, gaining eight points.

2015

In 2015, Lotus built a much more competitive car that was powered by a Mercedes engine. The E23 Hybrid chassis with Grosjean driving showed great potential in pre-season tests. However, mechanical problems in Australia and the U-turn after contact with Sergio Perez in Malaysia prevented Grosjean to score points. After the first two unsuccessful races, Romain performed well in China and Bahrain, taking 7th place in both races. In Spain, Lotus looked good both in practice and in qualification, and Grosjean almost went to the third segment of qualification, taking 11th place on the starting grid. In the race, his pace improved, and he finished eighth, despite contact with Pastor Maldonado in the first laps and a mistake at the pit stop. In Monaco, Grosjean could finish for the fourth time in the spectacle zone, despite a fine for changing the gearbox, but in the race he had contact with Max Verstappen during the battle for the position. Grosjean was able to return to the fight, but finished only twelfth.

In Canada, the E23 Hybrid was one of the fastest cars, and Grosjean took an impressive 5th place in the qualification. He was in the top 5 in the race, but on lap 51 between Grosjean and Will Stevens at Marussia there was contact, both riders went to the boxes for changing tires, and the stewards punished Roman with a five-second fine, but he still managed to finish with glasses. He was in the top 10 in Austria, but mechanical problems prevented him from completing the race. In the UK, he came down on the first lap after contact with Daniel Riccardo and teammate Pastor Maldonado . In Hungary, he received a fine for unsafe exit from the boxes. But towards the end of the race, he won a lot of positions due to problems with other riders. As a result, he managed to repeat his best finish of the season - 7th place, finishing ahead of Nico Rosberg at Mercedes. In Belgium, the Lotus again had one of the fastest cars, and Grosjean qualified fourth, but started ninth due to a fine. In the race, he consistently won back positions, and a few laps before the finish Grosjean was fourth. In front of him was Vettel, who was on very worn tires, and Grosjean caught up with him for 5 laps. He could not overtake the German, but Vettel's right rear tire exploded on the penultimate lap. Grosjean became the third, for the first time since the 2013 US Grand Prix . After the race, Romain said that he was crying on the last lap.

In Italy, Grosjean again fell into the third segment of the qualification, taking 8th place on the grid, but came down in the first corner due to a collision with another car. In Singapore, he was forced to go a few laps to the finish line due to an alleged gearbox problem. In Japan, Grosjean was in 6th place after the start, but lost his position during the attack on Niko Hulkenberg . By the end of the race, he was under pressure from Maldonado, who was a little more than a second behind, but Grosjean managed to maintain his seventh position until the finish line and scored points for the first time after Belgium. In the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi finished ninth. Grosjean took eleventh place in the individual standings with 51 points, and the Lotus team after the disastrous season of 2014 took 6th place in the constructors' cup with 78 points.

Haas (2016 - present)

2016

On September 29, 2015, it was announced that in 2016, Grosjean would play for the new Haas F1 team. His partner was a former Sauber pilot and Ferrari test pilot Esteban Gutierrez . In the first race, the Australian Grand Prix, Grosjean took sixth place, gaining 8 points at once. For the first time since 2009, the debutant team scored points in the very first race (only the Brawn GP succeeded for the last time, but this team took the winning double in the first race). Grosjean was recognized as the pilot of the day. At the next race in Bahrain, he finished fifth, again becoming the pilot of the day. During the season, Grosjean managed to score three more times, becoming the thirteenth in the individual standings with 29 points, and the Haas team took 8th place in the constructors' cup, ahead of Renault , Sauber and Manor .

2017

On November 11, 2016, the team announced that Kevin Magnussen would be Grosjean's partner in 2017, replacing Gutierrez.

In the first race of the season, the team qualified in the highest positions in its history - Grosjean became the sixth on the new VF-17 chassis. However, in the race, one of the problems that prevented Kevin Magnussen throughout the weekend, touched and Grosjean, causing a double gathering and lack of points at the start of the season. The second race of the season turned out to be successful - Kevin Magnussen finished 8th, gaining his first points since his finish at 10th place in the Singapore Grand Prix in 2016 , and the first Haas F1 points from the 2016 US Grand Prix , where Grosjean won 10th place.

Haas performed confidently in 2017. In Monaco, Grosjean and Magnussen both arrived in the spectacle zone, taking 8th and 10th places respectively. The team took 8th place in the Cup of designers for the 2nd year in a row after being surpassed by Renault in the final races. Grosjean himself took 13th place in the individual competition with 28 points.

2018

In 2018, Grosjean continued to play for Haas along with Magnussen.

The season began with a double descent in Australia - and both due to problems with mounting the wheels on the pit stop. It was a disaster for the team, which was the third in speed - in qualification Haas pilots took fifth and sixth places. In the next races, Grosjean could not score points for a long time - in most cases due to his own mistakes. In Azerbaijan, during a safety car, he warmed up the tires and hit the switch on the steering wheel - Romain crashed into a wall, retiring from the race. At the same time, engineer Romaina said that his car was pushed by Marcus Ericsson. In Spain, in the first round Grosjean unfolded and he knocked out several opponents at once. In France, Esteban Ocone's car was touched, Pierre Gasley flew into it. Grosjean received a five-second fine. And only in Austria he was able to score the first points of the season, having arrived in a high 4th position. Further, the results of Grosjean stabilized and he began to regularly come in the spectacle zone, but he was disqualified at the Italian Grand Prix - in the evening after the finish, the stewards examined the Renault team’s protest on the construction of the front of the underbody of the Grosjean - and excluded the rider from the protocol, acknowledging the violation. This allowed to score the first points of the season to the Russian pilot Sergei Sirotkin , who climbed from eleventh to tenth. However, Haas filed an appeal, which was pending, and the decision will be announced on November 1, 2018. As a result, the FIA ​​rejected this appeal and the disqualification of Grosjean remained in force.

2019

On September 28, 2018, it was announced that Grosjean and Magnussen would remain in the Haas F1 team for the 2019 season .

• Official site (English) (French)

• Profile (English) on Driver Database
• Profile (German) on Speedsport magazine website
• Profile (Russian) on wildsoft.motorsport.com