{"id":672473,"date":"2026-05-15T11:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T11:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/672473\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T11:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T11:45:10","slug":"grosjean-felt-renault-told-everyone-i-wasnt-good-enough-for-f1-before-return-racefans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/672473\/","title":{"rendered":"Grosjean felt Renault \u2018told everyone I wasn\u2019t good enough for F1\u2019 before return \u2013 RaceFans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romain Grosjean<\/a> admitted his swift demotion from Formula 1 soon after his debut hurt his confidence at the time.<\/p>\n

He started seven races for Renault at the end of 2009 but was not retained by the team the following year. He spent two years on the sidelines before gaining his first full-time F1 seat.<\/p>\n

Grosjean was racing in GP2 (now Formula 2) and working in a bank when Renault called him up to make his F1 debut late in 2009<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my first Formula 1 race in Valencia, 2009<\/a>, on Monday morning I went back to work at the bank,\u201d Grosjean told FanAmp<\/a>. \u201cI thought \u2018that\u2019s going to be tricky to keep going\u2019. But for me it was important to also realise what you know what I call normal life was like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Romain<\/a>Grosjean made his F1 debut at crisis-hit Renault in 2009Renault was going through a turbulent time when it promoted Grosjean. He took the place of Nelson Piquet Jnr, who had exposed the \u2018Crashgate\u2019 conspiracy<\/a> arranged the previous year by team principal Flavio Briatore and technical director Pat Symonds to secure victory for Fernando Alonso<\/a> in Singapore.<\/p>\n

Despite the situation, Grosjean said he had to take the opportunity to make his debut alongside Alonso. \u201cYou don\u2019t really choose the time you go to Formula 1,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s time you just don\u2019t say \u2018no\u2019. But yes, I [went] in as the young French Formula 1 driver that Renault brought in with Flavio Briatore.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThen Crashgate [was revealed], then Renault pulls out of Formula 1, they sold the team, Flavio is not there. I guess at that point you can say \u2018wrong time, wrong place\u2019. I was part of the furniture that you change when you come in a new house and that was kind of game over at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Romain<\/a>Grosjean is racing in IndyCar again this yearGenii Capital, which took over the Renault team initially under the same name, replaced Grosjean with Vitaly Petrov<\/a>. Grosjean returned to GP2, winning the title in 2011.<\/p>\n

By 2012 Genii\u2019s team, now rebranded as Lotus, chose to rehire him. \u201cRenault became Lotus, but it was the same engineers, it was the same team manager, it was like, 98% of the people were the same,\u201d said Grosjean.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not easy, because you come into a place that they basically told everyone that I wasn\u2019t good enough for Formula 1, and then you come back to a place that like, that\u2019s what they thought of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

However Grosjean felt his performance immediately vindicated their decision. \u201cI qualified third in Australia for the first race of the season, and at that point, they thought, well, maybe he\u2019s not that bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grosjean spent four seasons with the team before joining newcomers Haas in 2016. He retired from F1 after a huge crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020 and now races in IndyCar.<\/p>\n

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Formula 1
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