After a spell of 28 races - which were mostly unsuccessful - Renault finally decided to axe Nelson Piquet Jr shortly after the German Grand Prix and turned to Romain Grosjean to fill the vacant race seat.

The 23-year-old, who was born in Switzerland but drives under the French flag, started his motorsport career in the 2003 Swiss Formula Renault 1.6 Championship and then moved to the French Formula Renault Championship the following year.

After success there, he joined the Renault Driver Development in 2006 and that same year he raced in the Formula 3 Euro Series Championship, but found things a little difficult, finishing only once on the podium and ending the year 13th.

His hard work, though, paid off the next year as he was crowned champion, beating fellow F1 rookie Sebastien Buemi in the process.

In 2008 he moved onto the GP2 Asia Series and won four races, including both races of the first round of the championship, and ended up with 61 points while he scored two victories in the GP2 Series in 2009 with Barwa Adda.

With Piquet Jr graduating to the Renault driver in 2008, Grosjean took over as the team's test driver and his first taste in an F1 car came in the first round of the 2008 World Series by Renault at Silverstone.

He continued his duties as test and reserve driver in the first 10 races of the 2009 season before being confirmed as Renault's No 2 behind Fernando Alonso shortly before the European Grand Prix in Valencia in August.