On November 29, 2020, the racing world was stunned into silence when Step One Motorsports ambassador, Romain Grosjean, crashed out of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Upon connecting with Daniil Kvyat on the first lap, Romain was caught in a searing inferno and yet, in the face of the most unimaginable scene, emerged from the flames.

By rising from the horror, The Phoenix was born, and nearly two years on from the moment that changed his life, Romain is still passionate about the moniker.

“Where did your nickname come from?” we ask.

“I don’t remember exactly where the Phoenix idea came from,” replies Romain. “I don’t know who was the first one to bring forward the idea, whether it was me, my wife, or my friends.

“I remember one of my friends coming over one evening after I came home from Bahrain, and straight away, he called me The Phoenix.

“I asked him if he knew that that was my new nickname and he said that he had no idea. But he did say that it was so cool.”

In 2021, Romain completed his comeback campaign and when competing in IndyCar, wore his new nickname with pride.

Yet in 2022, some suggested that it was time to move on from the events of Bahrain, and that The Phoenix should be left behind and forgotten.

“The Phoenix is a great nickname, but some people after 2021 told me that it was time to change it because they thought that The Phoenix is related to the accident,” explains Romain. “[They said] that it was time to move onto the next chapter.” He refused.

“I said no, no, no, no. The Phoenix is not the accident. The Phoenix is not the fire. The Phoenix is how you rise back up from something tough.

“The Phoenix is how you take a bad experience and turn it into a good experience. Obviously, my experience was in the fire, but The Phoenix is a way to say to people that they can do it.

“Just because you go through something pretty brutal, it doesn’t mean that you can’t come back from it, rise from it, and reach a better level.

“That’s what I like about the Phoenix,” adds Romain. “It’s not the fire, it’s the rise after it.”

Phoenix Fridays, an exclusive Step One Motorsports series in partnership with Romain, can be watched on YouTube.