A bad start to the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps saw Romain Grosjean's Lotus flying through the air at La Source. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) was lucky not to be injured as his Ferrari also crashed out into retirement, while Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Sergio Perez (Sauber) were similarly both out on the spot as a result of the first corner mêlée.
Grosjean was blamed for causing the collision and given a one-race ban, which left the team scrambling to find a replacement driver. They finally settled on their test and development driver (and former Marussia racer) Jérôme d'Ambrosio as his stand-in for the next race in Monza: d'Ambrosio finished in 13th place in the race in his only outing with the team, and his last appearance in a Formula One Grand Prix to date.
