Why is Grosjean racing under the French flag?

[Tomba]

Great start for Romain Grosjean in Oz, well done for the first time Down Under. One little question : How come Romain can be a French flagged driver when he was born in Switzerland ? We all know that he has an FFSA licence issued through the ASA Ocean in La Rochelle (licence 153717 - International Concurrant Conducteur "A" Auto) because Switzerland does not have a motor racing association to issue one, we all know that he lives in Switzerland, we all know that he's adopted a French town as his FFSA home address (Meudon -92, but this address only since his 2012 licence renewal), but we are a little bemused that one can actually change one's nationality by just having a French race licence. My son was BORN in France, he, and I also, also have French race licences, but although my son was physically born in France, his French ID card very clearly states that he is a "Foreigner, born in France with foreign parents".

Does anyone have any explanation why Romain has a French flag instead of a Swiss flag next to his name ?

Down Under Racing

[NathanOlder]

He holds duel French/Swiss citizenship, So he could use either, and Its only a guess, but maybe he chose french, as it has got him in at the Renault team in the past, and now back in the same team. Being French may have helped ?

[lebesset]

I don't know where the idea comes from that he has dual nationality comes from...he does not appear to have the right to vote in french national elections as a citizen , although if you claim residence somewhere you can vote in local elections [ like me ] as a non french citizen if you are a swiss or EU citizen

the reality I would guess is that Total sponsor him and wanted a 'french' driver before they would renew their role as main sponsor of the team now that it is no longer owned by Renault

grosjean apparently lives and has a pseudo job with a bank in geneva .....well , would you want to pay french taxes ?

as the mafia say ...it's only business

[ringo]

more marketable to be a french driver with a Renault powered car.

[lebesset]

more marketable to be a french driver with a Renault powered car.

makes sense to me ..the french government are desperately trying to hold onto a french owner car industry , and see getting back into F1 as helping that

the forthcoming election shouldn't change that , the politicians of both parties and the people who run big business are interchangeable

[Oneshortplanck]

the forthcoming election shouldn't change that , the politicians of both parties and the people who run big business are interchangeable

cinic

[lebesset]

the forthcoming election shouldn't change that , the politicians of both parties and the people who run big business are interchangeable

cinic

not at all, it's just how france is run

a couple of years ago a politician was jailed for fraud , when he got out he was appointed CEO of a major nationalised company within 6 months ; nothing new about it ..ask anyone french that you meet

[Gonner]

Woohoo ! For once, I'm not questioning but answering on this site.

That being said, Grosjean holds double nationality because he's born in Genève, Romandie ( french Switzerland ), and his mother is French. So, via " droit du sang ", he automatically holds french citizenship. Then, he decided to race under french license, because historically, since the 1955 incident at Le Mans, Switzerland hasn't been the best country for racing, even if Sauber is quite famous.

I can only think of Surer, Siffert and Regazzoni as famous swiss drivers, and more recently Buemi. The latest benefited from RedBull Junior Team.


As the relationship between " german Swiss " and " french Swiss " isn't really a love story, Grosjean thought he could get more sponsorship and media coverage while holding a french license.

It worked this way for Total. It's not them that asked him to take french citizenship.


And for this

the forthcoming election shouldn't change that , the politicians of both parties and the people who run big business are interchangeable

cinic

not at all, it's just how france is run

a couple of years ago a politician was jailed for fraud , when he got out he was appointed CEO of a major nationalised company within 6 months ; nothing new about it ..ask anyone french that you meet

I'm laughing.


If you believe that politicians are angels in your country, " tu te fourres le doigt dans l'oeil jusqu'à l'omoplate "

[Mr Alcatraz]

If he is not French he sure picked up a realistic sounding French accent.

[ElleMarie]

The same happens with Facundo Regalia so-called and misspelled Facu Regalia


He was born in Argentina. In every article of Argentine media sports he is quoted as argentinean. In every international article he is quoted as spaniard.

The truth is that he lived in argentina just for a few years, he was 8 years old when he and his family moved to Spain where his father owns and runs a company related with tennis; Varlion (This year DeLaRosa and HRT are sponsored by Varlion).

I think that he is not argentinean, he barely knows this country, he doesnt even talk like an argie, plus is more marketable for him to stick with the spanish market.

[Lurk]

more marketable to be a french driver with a Renault powered car.

makes sense to me ..the french government are desperately trying to hold onto a french owner car industry , and see getting back into F1 as helping that

the forthcoming election shouldn't change that , the politicians of both parties and the people who run big business are interchangeable

French government want to support car industry but they don't want formula one otherwsie they would never had let french GP stopped. They prefer to support "green car" (even if they are in fact not green at all, marketing power...) than races. They also put limitation on somes races and test session because of people living near race tracks. Some people buying house near Hunaudière straight even complained about the race. Seems they weren't aware about a barely unknown 24 hour race standing each year in june at Le Mans...

Anyway, there is several way to have french citizenship : born in France, marriage, french mother or father, living in France since several years, enrollment in french army (you even have "Légion étrangère" which provide french citizenship without asking question about your past).

Grosjean has french citizenship because of his mother, and so can vote: if you have french citizenship you can always vote, except if you commit a crime or some frauds.

@MrAlcatraz : as a french, I'd say that he has lost his swiss accent

[lebesset]

I checked the latest regs from 1993 when they took away the right of a lot of people to be french because their parents were not french born...but they left in the ..one french parent ..qualification

so although he was born and brought up in switzerland according to france he is entitled to be french because of his mother being french by birth as stated here

[Postmoe]

Classic Droit de sang. He is a frenchman and his mother surely made herself sure of that. Perhaps in other countries these notions are different, but the french state has had traditionaly a very deep sense of "grandeur" (which is sometimes absurd and cocky) towards this type of things. I grew up attending at a "lycée Français" so I know what I'm talking about.

If I were racing the possibility of doing it under the french flag would be rather natural to me, even if I've always lived in my "other" country. I've been raised with both identities and I have no special preference for one of them.

So I hope I've answered why Grosjean is perhaps racing under a french flag. Obviously I don't know him. But I can say it doesn't surprise me a bit.