Lotus (2012–2015) at the
2012 Malaysian Grand Prix. At the start of , Grosjean returned to the newly branded
Lotus Renault GP team as one of five test drivers along with
Bruno Senna,
Ho-Pin Tung,
Jan Charouz and
Fairuz Fauzy. Lotus Renault had planned to run
Robert Kubica and
Vitaly Petrov throughout 2011 but Kubica had a horrific rally accident and was unable to drive during 2011. Former
BMW Sauber teammate
Nick Heidfeld replaced Kubica for the first eleven races before himself being replaced by Senna from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards. In late October 2011, Lotus Renault announced that Grosjean would drive in the first Friday free practice session in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (replacing Senna) and the Brazilian Grand Prix (replacing Petrov). On 9 December 2011, it was announced that Grosjean would make his comeback to Formula One in , taking the second seat at the newly renamed
Lotus F1 Team (formerly
Renault, the team that Grosjean raced with in 2009) alongside World Champion
Kimi Räikkönen.
2012 . At the , Grosjean set the second fastest time in the final free practice session, and while teammate Räikkönen was eliminated in the first part of qualifying, Grosjean made it into the top ten – for the first time, as his previous best was twelfth place – and ultimately qualified in third position. He fell to sixth at the start and retired on the second lap after a collision with
Pastor Maldonado, which broke his right-front suspension. At the
2012 Bahrain Grand Prix he finished third, collecting his first Formula One podium and the first for a French driver since
Jean Alesi at the
1998 Belgian Grand Prix. In
Spain Grosjean started third, finished fourth and set his first fastest lap in Formula One; the first for a French driver since Alesi at the
1996 Monaco Grand Prix. At the
2012 Canadian Grand Prix, he collected his second Formula One podium with a career best finish of second, behind
Lewis Hamilton. At
Valencia, Grosjean was running second when the car's electronics malfunctioned forcing Grosjean's first mechanical-related retirement of the season. At the , Grosjean topped the timesheets during the first free practice session, but qualifying did not go as well; at the end of Q2, he spun into the gravel at the final corner after managing to get into Q3, this meant he could not take any further part in qualifying and started from tenth, although he was promoted to ninth after
Nico Hülkenberg received a grid penalty. At the start of the race, he was involved in an incident with
Paul di Resta, which forced a pit stop for a new front wing. However, Grosjean fought back through the field to finish in sixth just behind his teammate. At the , Grosjean started nineteenth due to a gearbox penalty and finished eighteenth after picking up a puncture on lap one. A week later, at the , Grosjean qualified second, the first time a French Formula One driver had started on the front row of the grid since Alesi at the
1999 French Grand Prix; Grosjean finished third in the race behind Hamilton and teammate Räikkönen. at the first corner of the
2012 Japanese Grand Prix. At
Spa, Grosjean caused a multi-car pile-up at the start of the race, with Hamilton,
Fernando Alonso and
Sergio Pérez all eliminated from the race as well as Grosjean; the incident was started when Grosjean drove into Hamilton on the approach to the La Source corner. Grosjean was given a one race ban post-race (the first driver to be banned since
Michael Schumacher in ), as well as a fine of €50,000, with the FIA saying in a statement "The stewards regard this incident as an extremely serious breach of the regulations, which had the potential to cause injury to others. It eliminated leading championship contenders from the race. The stewards note [that] the team conceded the action was an extremely serious mistake and an error of judgement. Neither the team nor the driver made any submission in mitigation of penalty." His team boss,
Éric Boullier said that Grosjean learned an important lesson following his ban, however at the , Grosjean crashed into
Mark Webber at the first corner with Webber branding him a "first lap nutcase". Grosjean's actions were condemned by many drivers in the paddock. At the , Grosjean was involved in another first lap incident. In
São Paulo Grosjean hit the back of
Pedro de la Rosa's HRT in qualifying. On 14–16 December Grosjean won the
Race of Champions after a Grand Final victory over
Le Mans legend
Tom Kristensen at the
Rajamangala Stadium in
Bangkok. The day before Grosjean finished in second place in the Nations' Cup event along with his teammate
Sébastien Ogier in the French team, after defeat by Germany's Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher. On 17 December 2012, it was confirmed that Grosjean would stay at Lotus for the season.
2013 in
Barcelona. Grosjean had three points-scoring finishes at the three opening races before receiving a new chassis to help his chances at
Bahrain; he qualified eleventh and climbed to third. At the next race in
Spain, his suspension failed on lap nine. At the , Grosjean had three crashes during the practice sessions, leading his team principal, Boullier, to tell Grosjean to "wake up". He qualified thirteenth but his race ended when he crashed into the back of
Daniel Ricciardo, earning him a ten-place grid penalty for the next race. At the , he started last on the grid due to the grid penalty but ran as high as eighth in the race before finishing thirteenth as he had to stop for a third time due to heavy tyre wear. On the first lap of the , Grosjean made contact with
Mark Webber, damaging the front wing of Webber's car. Grosjean retired on the last lap while in eighth position due to serious front wing damage. At the after qualifying fifth, he led the race for a while and seemed to be on a faster pace than
Sebastian Vettel but the intervention of the safety car changed the race. He was forced to let his teammate
Kimi Räikkönen pass towards the end of the race as Räikkönen had faster tyres. Grosjean resisted
Fernando Alonso to earn his second podium of the season behind Vettel and Räikkönen. . At the , Grosjean qualified third on the grid but finished the race in sixth position after receiving a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line as he overtook
Felipe Massa. After the race, he was given a further twenty-second time penalty for colliding with
Jenson Button, however, this did not affect his final position. At the , Grosjean qualified seventh on the grid, and Lotus chose to operate a one-stop strategy on Grosjean's car. Later in the race, he was sent off track by
Sergio Pérez while Pérez was attempting an overtake – Pérez received a drive-through penalty for the incident. Grosjean finished the race in eighth position after being overtaken by Massa towards the end of the race. At the , Grosjean qualified thirteenth as both Lotuses showed a slow pace in practice. After a slow pit stop, he came back to finish in eighth after many overtaking moves and resisting
Lewis Hamilton on the last lap. In
Singapore Grosjean had a difficult weekend full of mechanical problems; and despite qualifying third, he was forced to retire due to an engine issue. At the , he qualified fourth and was moved up to third on the grid after a grid penalty for Webber. He made a good start in which he overtook Hamilton and was closing on Vettel until the safety car came out. This intervention aided Räikkönen's progression up the order, and after a small mistake, Grosjean was overtaken by his teammate. Grosjean maintained position behind Räikkönen and secured his third podium of the season, in third. The next weekend, at
Suzuka, Grosjean qualified fourth. After a poor start by the Red Bulls on the front row, Grosjean took the lead into the first corner and showed a good pace compared to the Red Bulls behind him, leading almost half the race. Vettel passed him on lap 28 and he was also later overtaken by
Mark Webber, and finished third for the second straight race. In
India, Grosjean failed to reach Q2 on medium tyres to save softer tyres, and he ultimately qualified seventeenth. In the race, he had a longer first stint with soft tyres to apply a one pit stop strategy that worked perfectly as he finished third behind Vettel and Rosberg after overtaking Massa and then Räikkönen who forced him off the track on his first overtaking attempt. At
Abu Dhabi, after qualifying seventh (and being promoted to sixth due to teammate Räikkönen's penalty), he had another strong start and strong race, finishing fourth. At the , Grosjean had a good qualifying session and earned the third spot on the grid behind Vettel and Webber. In the race, Grosjean had a strong start once again, by overtaking Webber and nearly overtaking Vettel. Leading a lap during the pit stop phase, Grosjean finished second by holding off Webber despite numerous overtaking attempts. On 29 November 2013, it was confirmed that Grosjean would continue with Lotus in 2014.
2014 A new rule for the
2014 season allowed the drivers to pick a car number to use for their entire career. Grosjean was awarded his first choice of number 8. He explained his choice of number on his Facebook page: "Simply I like this number, plus it has some signification to me. My wife was born on 8 December, we started dating in 2008 and besides, to my eyes my son is the 8th wonder of the world. That's why I picked up number 8." Among all the races in 2014, he was only able to score on two occasions and claim eight points.
2015 In 2015, Lotus produced a much better car, which was powered by a Mercedes engine. Grosjean showed great potential in testing, but mechanical problems in
Australia and a spin after contact with
Sergio Pérez in
Malaysia prevented Grosjean from scoring points. But after the first two troubled races, Grosjean recorded good performances in
China and
Bahrain, finishing seventh on both occasions. In
Spain, Lotus struggled in practice and qualifying and Grosjean missed out on Q3 for the first time in the season. But in the race, his pace improved and he finished eighth, despite making contact with
Pastor Maldonado in the opening laps and a mistake in the pits, both of which cost him some time. In
Monaco, Grosjean was on for his fourth consecutive points finish, despite a grid penalty for a gearbox change, but he was hit by
Max Verstappen while battling for position. Grosjean managed to rejoin, but lost time and finished twelfth. In
Canada, Lotus had one of the fastest cars and Grosjean qualified in an impressive fifth place. In the race, he was in the top-five but made contact with the Marussia of
Will Stevens, which punctured his tyre. Grosjean had to pit for new tyres, but managed to recover and finished in the points. In
Austria, he was racing in the top-ten, but he had a mechanical issue and could not finish the race. In
Great Britain, he retired on lap one after contact with
Daniel Ricciardo and teammate Maldonado. In
Hungary, he struggled again and even had a penalty for an unsafe release in the pits. But near the end of the race, he advance many positions due to other drivers' problems. In the end, he managed to repeat his best finish of the season of 7th, finishing ahead of
Nico Rosberg's Mercedes. In
Belgium, Lotus again had one of the fastest cars and Grosjean qualified in fourth, but started ninth, because of a penalty. In the race, he consistently gained positions, and a few laps before the finish, Grosjean was running fourth. Ahead of him was Vettel, who was on old tyres, and Grosjean caught up with him with five laps to go. He was not able to overtake, but Vettel's right rear tyre exploded on the penultimate lap. Grosjean moved into the podium positions, to record his first such result since 2013. After the race, Grosjean said that he cried on the last lap. In
Italy, Grosjean once again made it into Q3, qualifying in eighth, but was involved in some contact in turn one, provoking his retirement. In
Singapore, he was forced to retire a few laps before the end because of a suspected gearbox issue. In
Japan, Grosjean was in sixth place after the start but lost a position during the first stops to
Nico Hülkenberg. Near the end of the race, he was under pressure from Maldonado, who had closed the gap to just over a second, but Grosjean managed to retain his seventh position to the finish and scored points for the first time since Belgium.
Haas (2016–2020) 2016 . On 29 September 2015, it was announced that Grosjean would race for the
Haas F1 Team, who were joining the Formula One grid for the season. He was partnered by former
Sauber driver and
Ferrari test driver
Esteban Gutiérrez. In the team's first race, the , Grosjean finished sixth to record Haas' first points and making them the first team since
Toyota Racing to score points in their debut. He was eventually voted Formula One's first Driver of the Day. Grosjean scored again in the following by finishing in fifth position, winning Driver of the Day again. Following
Jenson Button's retirement from full-time racing, the members of the
GPDA elected Grosjean to replace Button as one of the directors of the GPDA in May 2017.
2017 Grosjean drove for
Haas for the
2017 season where he partnered
Kevin Magnussen. He had multiple retirements, such as in the
2017 Australian Grand Prix, where he retired due to a water leak. His second retirement came at the
2017 Russian Grand Prix, when he had a collision with
Jolyon Palmer. His third and final retirement of the season was in the
2017 Hungarian Grand Prix due to a
wheel nut. He scored 28 points in total from eight occasions and finished the season thirteenth.
2018 Haas retained Grosjean for the
2018 season where he again partnered
Magnussen. At the
Spanish Grand Prix, Grosjean was the cause of a crash on the opening lap. Whilst making his way through turn three, he lost control of his
Haas after running through dirty air. This caused him to spin across the track into the path of the cars behind him, causing a large amount of smoke in the process. He was then hit by Hülkenberg and Gasly, eliminating all three from the race. In the
Austrian Grand Prix, Grosjean finished fourth, his best result in his career at Haas, and his first points finish in 2018. Grosjean was disqualified from the
Italian Grand Prix after the floor of his car was found to be illegal, taking away a sixth-place finish; although the team appealed this, the decision was upheld. Grosjean finished the season fourteenth with 37 points.
2019 On 28 September 2018, it was confirmed that
Haas would retain Grosjean for the
2019 season, again partnering Magnussen. Like his 2018 season, Grosjean's 2019 was plagued with reliability issues, poor luck and driver errors. Additionally, the
Haas VF-19 suffered from poor pace throughout the season, often qualifying well but falling far behind during races. The first two races saw a double retirement for Grosjean. In
Australia, a wheel was incorrectly fitted during a pit stop, causing it to come loose on track in an extremely similar incident to his
race in Australia the year before. In
Bahrain, he was hit by
Lance Stroll on the opening lap, causing terminal damage. An eleventh-place finish in
China followed, before a third retirement in four races in
Azerbaijan due to a brake failure. Grosjean scored his first point of the season by finishing tenth in
Spain, and followed this up with another tenth-place finish in
Monaco. Grosjean finished fourteenth in
Canada after a collision in front of him on the first lap sent debris into his car, causing him to lose positions. He then retired from the next race, his
home race in France. Another retirement came two races later in
Britain, after contact with teammate Magnussen on the first lap, ending the races of both drivers. Both were blamed and criticised for the incident, at a race in which Grosjean was testing the old spec of the VF-19 so that the team could understand their recent lack of pace. His best—and final—points finish of the season came in
Germany, when he crossed the line in ninth place but was promoted to seventh after the
Alfa Romeo drivers were penalised post-race for the use of driver aids. Another retirement came in
Hungary due to a hydraulics issue. In
Singapore, Grosjean tagged
George Russell during an overtake attempt, damaging his front wing and causing the
Williams driver to crash into a wall. Grosjean finished the race in eleventh. Another retirement followed in
Russia after a first-lap collision with
Daniel Ricciardo and
Antonio Giovinazzi sent him into the barriers. In
Brazil, Grosjean was running in seventh place late in the race behind
Pierre Gasly and ahead of
Carlos Sainz Jr., before issues with his car dropped him back to fourteenth by the finish line (thirteenth after a penalty for
Nico Hülkenberg). Gasly and Sainz would go on to finish second and third in the race.Grosjean ended the season in eighteenth place in the championship with eight points, his worst full-season in Formula One.
2020: Final season and accident On 19 September 2019, Haas announced that Grosjean would remain with the team for the
2020 season alongside Magnussen. Grosjean retired from the first race in
Austria and finished thirteenth at the
same venue a week later. His finish at Styria would prove to be his highest finish for the next six races, when he finished twelfth in
Italy and again in
Tuscany. He scored ninth in
Germany for his only points of the season. Ahead of the
Portuguese Grand Prix, Grosjean announced he and Magnussen were to leave Haas at the end of 2020. In what would be his final race, Grosjean suffered a serious crash in the
2020 Bahrain Grand Prix on the first lap in which his
Haas VF-20 made contact with the
AlphaTauri AT01 of
Daniil Kvyat, and hit the barrier at high speed, splitting the car in half, releasing the fuel and causing a significant fire. The force and angle of the impact caused the driver's compartment and the front half of the car to be wedged into the barrier, while the rear half was separated from the rest of the vehicle, igniting the car immediately upon impact. The impact was measured at . He was able to exit the car unaided after 28 seconds, and was helped away from the crash scene by
Alan van der Merwe and
Ian Roberts, with minor burn injuries to his hands and ankles before being airlifted to a nearby military hospital. The crash caused a
red flag for more than an hour to recover the chassis and repair the damaged barrier section. The
halo head-protective device, introduced in Formula One in 2018, was credited with saving his life: it sheltered Grosjean's head and body from coming into contact with the barrier upon collision. Grosjean ultimately missed the last two races of the season, and was replaced by Haas reserve driver
Pietro Fittipaldi. He underwent surgery for his injuries on 16 December. Grosjean was due to test drive the
Mercedes AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+, which won the
2019 Formula One World Championship, for a full day of testing with the team at the
2021 French Grand Prix. The test was delayed due to pandemic related travel restrictions. On 26 September 2025, Grosjean drove a
Haas VF-23 in a test at Mugello, marking his return to Formula One machinery following his 2020 crash. == IndyCar career ==