Autobiography Romain Grosjean: Facing Death

That's the title of the autobiography of Romain Grosjean, written along with his wife Marion.

it'll be interesting to read how he explains away his numerous banana skin episodes, not least his final fiery exit from F1.

There are 2 versions, the French is out first on the 24th November.

https://www.motorspo...ks-and-survival

Should be an interesting read.  His horrific crash...  thinking of what he went through just makes me shudder,  still.    

His escape from the wreck has already been described in detail. Not sure what else there is to know.

Glad he is ok but the title just confirms the opinion i always had of him.

  He's a decent enough bloke, but I think we all knew he and his PR team was going to milk the ever-living hell out of this....

Im not sure why he's writing a book like this and then climbing into a car to race around Indianapolis. Indy is a dangerous track.

Im not sure why he's writing a book like this and then climbing into a car to race around Indianapolis. Indy is a dangerous track.

I've been a long time supporter of him, but after what happened to Wickens, his oval debut still makes me slightly nervous.

milking the cow while still can...

Waiting for Romain’s second cookbook to come out...’dicing with the flames’...

I think 'Through the Barrier' would have been a subtler title.

Another French F1 driver, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, wrote an autobiography called Défense de mourir ('Dying forbidden') in the late sixties. The probability of losing your life in a racing accident was colossally higher back then, though.

Some harsh attitudes in this thread.

And book titles for autobiographies tend to be chosen by the publisher rather than the author, for what it’s worth.

Another French F1 driver, Jean-Pierre Beltoise, wrote an autobiography called Défense de mourir ('Dying forbidden') in the late sixties. The probability of losing your life in a racing accident was colossally higher back then, though.

And Cevert's was La Mort Dans Mon Contract.

Are Francophone racing drivers all secret goths?

I've been a long time supporter of him, but after what happened to Wickens, his oval debut still makes me slightly nervous.

His oval debut already happened during the 2021 season.

Some harsh attitudes in this thread.

 

And book titles for autobiographies tend to be chosen by the publisher rather than the author, for what it’s worth.

Yes, I'm surprised it took this long for that to be pointed-out.

His oval debut already happened during the 2021 season.

Whilst factually true, running at Gateway is at least an order of magnitude safer than at Indianapolis and certainly safer than running at Texas. Grosjean made some very aggressive moves at Gateway and some rookie errors. A bit more closer/over the limit can bring serious consequences at Indy.

Edited by Dolph, 17 November 2021 - 11:07.

Whilst factually true, running at Gateway is at least an order of magnitude safer than at Indianapolis and certainly safer than running at Texas. Grosjean made some very aggressive moves at Gateway and some rookie errors. A bit more closer/over the limit can bring serious consequences at Indy.

Thanks for the observation Dolph - I'm acutely aware of the differences in oval types - the original poster did not qualify oval configurations in his statement of "his oval debut still makes me slightly nervous". But you knew that...anything for a jab my way mate?

Some harsh attitudes in this thread.
 
And book titles for autobiographies tend to be chosen by the publisher rather than the author, for what it’s worth.

Come to think of it the words in autobiographies are also normally chosen by the publisher too

Whilst factually true, running at Gateway is at least an order of magnitude safer than at Indianapolis and certainly safer than running at Texas. Grosjean made some very aggressive moves at Gateway and some rookie errors. A bit more closer/over the limit can bring serious consequences at Indy.

Oh and while we're nitpicking, Pocono is a triangle not an oval. And hasn't been on the calendar for a few years anyway.

I think he just wanted to get this title reserved before Christian Horner writes a biography about Silverstone 21.

Thanks for the observation Dolph - I'm acutely aware of the differences in oval types - the original poster did not qualify oval configurations in his statement of "his oval debut still makes me slightly nervous". But you knew that...anything for a jab my way mate?

I feel I presented an important distinction in a neutral way. I even agreed with you. If you took it personally, that's your problem. I have no beef with you and I'm surprised you think I do. I'm sure we've disagreed over the years, but I can't remember a concrete instance.

Edited by Dolph, 17 November 2021 - 12:17.

Oh and while we're nitpicking, Pocono is a triangle not an oval. And hasn't been on the calendar for a few years anyway.

I was not nitpicking, but directing a black and white conversation to a direction with more substance and relevance.

I hope Kimi releases an autobiography titled "Driving a car" to complement this.

Haha - I think there couldbe a whole thread on potential titles for Kimi's biography, but this one is brilliant.

I propose: "Taking a Sh*t"

Well he did quite literally face death, I think it's a fitting name. And without halo he would be dead, 100% no questions asked.

Haha - I think there couldbe a whole thread on potential titles for Kimi's biography, but this one is brilliant.

I propose: "Taking a Sh*t"

"Just buy it. You can call this book whatever you want, I don't mind."

Well he did quite literally face death, I think it's a fitting name. And without halo he would be dead, 100% no questions asked.

Well he did quite literally face death, I think it's a fitting name. And without halo he would be dead, 100% no questions asked.

I think they could have gone for a less dramatic title. To me "facing death" sounds more like the scala of emotions and process a person and family/friends goes through in the wake of someone's death. But escaping death and how you handle it as a family while still racing sounds difficult enough so the title might fit. Ofcourse i haven't read the book so who knows. Beside the (discussion about) the chosen title i think it might be an interesting read and i am especially interested in the perspective of his wife.

i am especially interested in the perspective of his wife.

Haha - I think there couldbe a whole thread on potential titles for Kimi's biography, but this one is brilliant.

I propose: "Taking a Sh*t"

We did a thread on what drivers could call their books a while back: 

https://forums.autos...utobiographies/

Was it Servoz Gavin who quit racing to follow a quasi-nomadic life on a boat and then wrote a book about it?
I'd love to find it.

Mes excès de vitesse. A terrific book. The chapter on the 1968 French Grand-Prix is the best racing prose I've ever read.

https://www.amazon.f...N/dp/B003UADWMA

Edited by FLB, 17 November 2021 - 13:05.

CHA-CHING! Why not, eh. The accident was far more interesting than the rest of his entire F1 career. 

I Ofcourse i haven't read the book so who knows. Beside the (discussion about) the chosen title i think it might be an interesting read and i am especially interested in the perspective of his wife.

Actually, she co-wrote it, if not ghostwrote it. It's what she does for a living.

Actually, she co-wrote it, if not ghostwrote it. It's what she does for a living.

Thanks for the info, something fo my christmas wish list then.

Not to trivialize his ordeal, but . . . 

The word is that he's also doing a stand-up tour, titled "Romain Grosjean: Under, Up, and Off the Rails." 

And I hear that Chappelle contributed with the punchline, "RoGo nearly go NoMo."

Edited by Mila, 17 November 2021 - 14:07.

He's a decent enough bloke, but I think we all knew he and his PR team was going to milk the ever-living hell out of this....

Well he did quite literally face death, I think it's a fitting name. And without halo he would be dead, 100% no questions asked.

So did Alonso when Grosjean took a flier at Spa, but I can't see Fred using a such an obvious title for his book.

I always found him immature, I can't word it right but the lack of subtlety in the title tells me everything. He's also the absolute worst driver I've ever seen with a non paybdriver reputation. I never rated him, even for pace, he was awful, stunned he had such a long career. Don't tell me Verne wasn't a better driver.

He was the token Frenchman for the majority of his career.

So did Alonso when Grosjean took a flier at Spa, but I can't see Fred using a such an obvious title for his book.

Thats because Alonso's book gonna be called "All the time you have to leave the space", written with double line-spacing.

I always found him immature, I can't word it right but the lack of subtlety in the title tells me everything. He's also the absolute worst driver I've ever seen with a non paybdriver reputation. I never rated him, even for pace, he was awful, stunned he had such a long career. Don't tell me Verne wasn't a better driver.

He was certainly clumsy, but he did have speed. Grosjean won every race in his car debut season, and then won championships in pretty much every category on his way to F1. He fared well enough against Kimi at Lotus. I wouldn't call him awful.

JEV was ushered out of F1 too soon, though. 

Thanks for the observation Dolph - I'm acutely aware of the differences in oval types - the original poster did not qualify oval configurations in his statement of "his oval debut still makes me slightly nervous". But you knew that...anything for a jab my way mate?

If you have to qualify everything in an informal conversation, then every post would be the length of an Apple EULA.  Good faith effort to understand the meaning of what is said is required if we are to communicate effectively without pointless pedantry.

I always found him immature, I can't word it right but the lack of subtlety in the title tells me everything. He's also the absolute worst driver I've ever seen with a non paybdriver reputation. I never rated him, even for pace, he was awful, stunned he had such a long career. Don't tell me Verne wasn't a better driver.

One of F1's recent tragedies (non-serious tragedies obviously) is that Vergne never got a chance at a top team. Arguably should have been him instead of Ricciardo that made the step up to RedBull.

Always been a bit ambivalent towards Grosjean. Never really rated him as a top driver, just one who 'made up the numbers'. One of those drivers that linger around in the midfield for a couple of years then leave F1. If it weren't for his special relationship with Haas and the creation of the team (I don't think that is an unfair statement) he would have been out of F1 many years before he actually retired. Some of his driving was pretty dangerous down the years.

Obviously glad that he survived that awful crash - but there's been a bit of a 'love-in' with Grosjean in the motorsport community since that night in Bahrain.

Grosjean's pace is ok, nothing special but passable. His spatial awareness was atrocious though and it damn near killed him. He's gonna hurtle around indy at near 400kmh, good lord. 

As for verne, Ricciardo absolutely beat him, no question. I followed them closely and on race pace it was reasonably close but qualy was hands down Daniel. It also started really tight then slowly, but surely, Daniel got on top and stayed there. No way RBR should have pout Verne first but i do think he was a very good driver, better than some guys that had long runs like Grosjean, Magnussen, kvyat etc. 

Edited by Alfisti, 17 November 2021 - 15:35.

We did a thread on what drivers could call their books a while back: 

 

https://forums.autos...utobiographies/

"Vandoorne Closes As Another Opens"

That is gold, Sophie

Vergne struggled with two things - qualifying and getting the tyres warmed up, and the fact that he wasn't the smiley, magnetic personality Ricciardo was. There was a brilliant racing driver hidden under those two issues. I was so impressed with him in Singapore in 2014, what a great drive that was, slicing through the field to sixth and setting the second fastest lap of the race. He was also at a weight disadvantage to Kvyat to the tune of a few tenths, I believe.