Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean went down in Formula 1 history for walking out of a fireball, but his career has a lot more to it. Born in Geneva in 1986 and racing under a French licence, he made his debut midway through 2009 with Renault in place of Nelson Piquet Jr., in seven races that went badly and left him off the grid for two years.

He returned in 2012 with Lotus and reached the podium three times that year, including second place in Canada. It was also the year of the start-line crash at Spa that took out several front-runners and earned him a one-race ban. In 2013 he strung together six podiums, with another second place in Austin, and finished seventh in the championship: his best season.

In 2016 he became the first driver of Haas, the American team new to the grid, and scored points in his first race with them. He spent five seasons there. The last one ended in Bahrain 2020: his car went through the barrier on the opening lap, split in two and caught fire, and Grosjean climbed out on his own after almost half a minute in the flames. He never raced in Formula 1 again and carried on his career in IndyCar.

Ten podiums and no wins in ten seasons. The halo, so hotly debated when it arrived, saved his life that night.