Romain Grosjean: From Geneva Karts to Haas, the Halo Crash and IndyCar

Romain Grosjean was a Geneva-born driver who raced in Formula One from 2009 to 2020 and then moved to IndyCar. His career combined junior titles, Lotus podiums, a race ban and a dramatic crash in Bahrain. This article follows his path from karts to the present day, including the setbacks that shaped his career.

Who is Romain Grosjean?

Romain Grosjean holds French and Swiss citizenship, competed for France in Formula One, and now races in IndyCar. He was born on 17 April 1986 in Geneva, and he has a long record in single-seaters that spans junior formulae, Formula One and American open-wheel racing.

His family connections go back to sport and design. His grandfather was the Olympic alpine skier Fernand Grosjean, and his great-grandfather was the weapons designer Edgar Brandt. Geneva was home from the start, and his father was Swiss while his mother was French.

A champion in three series, a Lotus podium finisher and a driver who walked away from a fireball in Bahrain.

How did Grosjean rise through the junior series?

Grosjean moved from karting into junior formulae in 2003, and he later dominated the French Formula Renault championship. He finished seventh in 2004 with one win, then won the 2005 title with ten victories, which earned him a place in the Renault Driver Development programme.

His first Formula Three outing came at Macau in 2005, where he replaced an absent driver and raced to ninth. In 2006 he had a tougher Formula 3 Euro Series season, ending thirteenth, but he moved to a stronger team the next year and won the 2007 title.

In 2008 he stepped up to GP2, where he ended his rookie year fourth overall and was the highest-placed newcomer in the championship. A drive-through penalty at Catalunya had dropped him to thirteenth in one race that year. He also won the 2008 GP2 Asia Series, and he returned to the top step in 2011 when he won the GP2 title with DAMS.

Hulkenberg's arrival at ART for 2009 forced Grosjean out of the team, but Renault placed him with Campos Grand Prix, now known as Barwa Addax. He still finished fourth in the standings, even though he sat out the closing four rounds.

How did his first Formula One stint with Renault go?

Grosjean drove his first Formula One car in 2008, when he was Renault's test driver. He made his race debut at the 2009 European Grand Prix, taking over from Nelson Piquet Jr. in the wake of the Crashgate controversy and finishing the season with a difficult run of results.

He qualified fourteenth at the European Grand Prix, but he was knocked out of Q2 and finished fifteenth after an early collision. At the Italian Grand Prix he qualified a career-best twelfth, but a poor start and contact at the first corner left him fifteenth.

His best result of the season came at the Brazilian Grand Prix, where he finished thirteenth after a practice accident and an early repair. He ended the year eighteenth at Abu Dhabi, learning a great deal from being Fernando Alonso's teammate, as he later put it.

He was left without a Formula One drive for 2010, when Renault gave the second seat to Vitaly Petrov. He then took a test role with Pirelli, but his return to the grid had to wait until 2012.

How did the Lotus years bring Grosjean back to the podium?

The 2012 season saw his comeback with Lotus, partnered by Kimi Raikkonen, and his first podium came at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where he finished third. He repeated the feat in Canada, where he took second behind Lewis Hamilton, and in Hungary, where he finished third after qualifying second.

Those podiums were followed by a serious error at Spa, where his move at the start set off a collision involving several cars. He was given a one-race ban, the first such ban for a driver since Michael Schumacher in 1994, and a fine of 50,000 euros. The stewards judged the incident a grave offence against the rules.

He was replaced for the Italian Grand Prix by Jerome d'Ambrosio, and later that season he collided with Mark Webber at the first corner in Japan. Many drivers in the paddock condemned his actions, and he was involved in another first-lap incident at Abu Dhabi.

Away from Formula One, Grosjean won the Race of Champions in December 2012 after a Grand Final victory over Tom Kristensen in Bangkok. He was confirmed at Lotus for 2013 shortly afterwards.

What did Grosjean achieve at Lotus in 2013 to 2015?

The 2013 season brought a run of strong results. He finished seventh in the drivers' championship, a career-best, and his best runs came in Germany, Korea, Japan and the United States, where he took second place by holding off Mark Webber.

In Hungary he qualified third but finished sixth after penalties, including a drive-through for crossing the white line. Points were harder to come by in 2014, and he scored on only two occasions that year, collecting eight points.

The 2015 Lotus was a far improved machine, running Mercedes power. Grosjean recorded a seventh place in Hungary, the best finish of his season, and he took his final Formula One podium at the Belgian Grand Prix after Sebastian Vettel's tyre exploded on the penultimate lap. He later said he cried on the final lap.

What was Grosjean's Haas era like?

Grosjean joined the new Haas team for 2016. His teammate was Esteban Gutierrez, a former Sauber driver and Ferrari test driver. The new outfit's opening race was in Australia, where his sixth place brought Haas its first points, making it the first newcomer since Toyota Racing to score on debut.

In 2017 he partnered Kevin Magnussen and scored 28 points, finishing thirteenth overall. His season was marked by several retirements, including a water leak in Australia and a collision with Jolyon Palmer in Russia.

In 2018 his season included a crash behind the safety car in Azerbaijan and a first-lap collision in Spain, but he finished fourth at the Austrian Grand Prix, his best result for Haas. He later lost a sixth-place finish in Italy after a disqualification over an illegal floor, and he ended the year fourteenth with 37 points.

The 2019 season was plagued by reliability problems, poor luck and driver errors. He retired in the opening two races, scored his first point in Spain and finished eighteenth with eight points, the weakest full campaign of his F1 career.

What happened at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix?

At the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, Grosjean suffered a serious crash on the first lap after contact with Daniil Kvyat. His Haas VF-20 hit the barrier at high speed, split in two and caught fire, and the impact was measured at 67 g.

He climbed out without help 28 seconds after the impact, and he was taken from the scene with burns to his hands and ankles. The halo head-protection device, introduced in Formula One in 2018, sheltered his head and body from the barrier, and he credited it with saving his life.

The crash was his final Formula One race. He missed the last two rounds of the season, and Pietro Fittipaldi replaced him for those events. He underwent surgery for his injuries in December.

How did Grosjean's IndyCar career begin?

In 2021 Grosjean moved to the IndyCar Series with Dale Coyne Racing, a deal shared with Rick Ware Racing and backed by Honda, and he quickly showed pace. He recorded three podiums that season, two of them second places at the Indianapolis road course. His long open-wheel background had prepared him well for the category, and his results matched it.

His first IndyCar pole came at that same first round at Indianapolis, where, after a two-week break, he out-qualified several rivals. He went on to finish second behind Rinus VeeKay in the race, a result that marked him as one of the stronger new arrivals in the series.

He also made up ten positions at Laguna Seca, where he passed several drivers at the famous Corkscrew, and top ten results also came at Barber, Road America and Mid-Ohio. His first oval race, at Gateway, saw him record the most overtakes of the race despite finishing fourteenth.

How did Grosjean fare at Andretti and Juncos Hollinger?

In 2022 Grosjean drove for Andretti Autosport, replacing Ryan Hunter-Reay. He picked up his first podium with the team at Long Beach, where he nearly took the win before a caution. He crashed out of his first Indianapolis 500, and the season was difficult overall.

In 2023 he took pole for the season opener, though a late clash with Scott McLaughlin ended any hope of victory. Two runner-up finishes, at Long Beach and at Barber, were the highlights, but the rest of the season brought a string of retirements.

Andretti did not retain him for 2024, and he later took legal action against the team. He then raced for Juncos Hollinger in 2024, finishing fourth at the Monterey round at Laguna Seca. He was not kept on for 2025, and Juncos chose other drivers for that year.

What is Grosjean doing now?

In January 2025 the new team Prema Racing hired Grosjean as a reserve driver. He had spent that year in a reserve role, so the return to Dale Coyne was a step back to full-time racing. In February 2026 he rejoined Dale Coyne Racing, which marked his second spell with the outfit, and the deal covered the 2026 season.

He has also raced in endurance events. In the 2026 Rolex 24 at Daytona he drove a Ford Mustang GT3 for Myers Riley Motorsports, and that car retired on lap 116 after substantial damage from contact with another car.

What are Grosjean's key career figures?

Grosjean's career figures show a driver who won at every level before Formula One and then rebuilt his career in IndyCar. The table lists the main results across his junior, Formula One and American open-wheel careers. The figures below reflect results up to the 2026 season.