In the 2014 Formula 1 season, the drivers were assigned permanent racing numbers. The only exception was the #1 was reserved for the reigning champion. So, drivers all went to choose their favourite numbers, except for Kimi Raikkonen, who did not see any point in changing from #7 from the previous year. Recently French driver Romain Grosjean was asked why he chose the number 8.

The 33-year old proceeded to credit his wife, Marion Jolles Grosjean as the reason behind his lucky number. Apparently, Marion was born on the 8th of December, so Romain wanted to race with the number emblazoned on his car. He also explained in a Facebook post, “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.”

Whatever the case, Romain Grosjean took his love for his wife to a new level. The two even released a cookbook together as they share a passion for cooking.

The French driver re-signed for Haas F1 and will partner Kevin Magnussen for yet another season. Haas F1 have really kept a lot of faith in the duo in spite of less-than-stellar results.

How has Romain Grosjean fared in his career?

Admittedly, Grosjean has come under a lot of criticism and been the butt of numerous jokes and trolls. This is largely due to his numerous crashes or collisions, and even his complaining on the radio. It even got to a point where his own team were forced to tell him to ‘shut up’.

Now, 2020 should hopefully be a year of redemption for Grosjean and the Haas F1 team. In 2019, they not only faced issues on track, but off it as well. The American team parted ways with sponsor, Rich Energy, who are currently embroiled in a copyright infringement case.