Romain Grosjean

Was drafted into F1 with not an ounce of testing and replaced Nelson Piquet Jr in the middle of 2009 when he was possibly on route to becoming the GP2 Champion that season, which went to Nico Hulkenburg.

In his 7 races in F1 he failed to impress and the no in-season testing rule didn't help his course. Plus having Fernando Alonso as his teammate couldn't have helped either.

In 2010 Grosjean went to do Auto GP, before returning back to GP2 on July 20th for a few guess appearances for DAM'S. But in 2011 Grosjean was given a full-time drive by DAM'S for the 2011 GP2 series and went on to become the 2011 GP2 Champion.

My question is will Grosjean get a drive for 2012? Plus how far can this guy go if he gets into F1?
 
Click to expand
jez101 said:
Before anyone else digs it up :embarrassed:

(on the Bruno Senna thread)



:clip:
Click to expand
I have been beating myself up about this post and whether after all I might have been right first time. After Senna's drive to 6th in Malaysia and Romain binning it, not once but twice in three and a half laps...

Maybe he has just been a bit unlucky - he was still out on inters when he spun for the second and final time, but by lap 4, it was pretty obvious that was a gamble on staying on track long enough for the safety car. After his earlier "mix up" with Schumacher, he was trying to recover lost ground of course.

But their contrasting races were interesting: Senna also got into a scrape on lap 1 and lost his front wing so perhaps for him pitting for full wets on lap 1 was a bit of luck (unlike Perez who could have chosen not to). Another rookie though, Vergne, managed to keep it on the island on inters. Grosjean did neither.

Romain is obviously a very fast driver when there are no other cars around him, but I wonder whether he is a bit too timid or uncertain when racing against the big boys? Lotus will be patient with him, but he is going to have to prove all this was bad luck now.
 
:thinking:

Grosjean is starting to make the same mistakes he made at Renault...
Two races..4 laps or so to his name and two DNF's.

Not looking too good at the momeent
 
jez101 said:
I have been beating myself up about this post and whether after all I might have been right first time. After Senna's drive to 6th in Malaysia and Romain binning it, not once but twice in three and a half laps...

Maybe he has just been a bit unlucky - he was still out on inters when he spun for the second and final time, but by lap 4, it was pretty obvious that was a gamble on staying on track long enough for the safety car. After his earlier "mix up" with Schumacher, he was trying to recover lost ground of course.

But their contrasting races were interesting: Senna also got into a scrape on lap 1 and lost his front wing so perhaps for him pitting for full wets on lap 1 was a bit of luck (unlike Perez who could have chosen not to). Another rookie though, Vergne, managed to keep it on the island on inters. Grosjean did neither.

Romain is obviously a very fast driver when there are no other cars around him, but I wonder whether he is a bit too timid or uncertain when racing against the big boys? Lotus will be patient with him, but he is going to have to prove all this was bad luck now.
Click to expand


the speed is clearly there in Grosjean as he has been matching Raikkonen. His race craft however needs to improve he is making rookie mistakes which I thought he was suppose to have sharpened up after going GP2 and A1 GP

I think Lotus will be patient with him because Bouillier is his manager and the team principal and can use the excuse -1) racing incident and 2) wet race

I suspect its when the European season starts where he knows the tracks better he will be more of a threat

Yes he needs to pace himself better in races and keep it on the road for a start - the talent is clearly there
 
Grosjean's clearly got pace. I think it's simply a matter of over-exhuberance and impetuosity while mixing it up at the Sharp End with a group of Aces.

The grid is tight and the advantages changing so quickly that he might even score a win. If Perez came so close to winning in a car built at Hinwill, there's no reason to think that Grosjean can't pull one out of the bag with a car from Enstone.

Stranger things have happened in wierder circumstances.

I think we need to give Grosjean more time.
 
I'm really starting to enjoy having Grosjean in F1. He is clearly quick and has an excellent demeanour. I am sure he is going to continue to improve over the season. Who knows, given the right conditions I think he may even have the minerals to put a win on Lotus' scorecard.
 
ExtremeNinja

Agreed - he's won me over too. I thought he drove really well in GP2 last year and Boullier's Lotus seems a much better place than Briatore's Renault for a young driver to rebuild his reputation. I'd love to see him get a podium or two this year.
 
I'd hope Grosjean shows and improves because he clearly has ability and is giving Kimi a real run for his money

I'd always thought it was unfair on him as it was on Piquet Jnr when he got the Renault chance in 2009....really he walked into a minefield then

I think last week's finish will help him calm down a bit more
 
teabagyokel

- maybe Nelson Piquet before him might differ on your opinion

or Giorgio Pantano in Jordan 2004 who was asked to bring the team more sponsorship money at $1m a race and his family had to mortgage for him to race whilst his teammate Heidfeld was not required such commitment

- Riccardo Zonta has been in a similar position back in 1999 - 2000 with BAR when JV thought he was really special


I've named drivers who did have some ability to do well in F1 but did not happen for them.. I am sure they are more
 
Il_leone

Those guys had difficult situations, but they were not in Romain Grosjean's situation where:
  • He had a slow car
  • The sacking of his immediate predecessor led to a court case that engulfed the whole team such that:
    • His team principal was banned along with the technical director
    • There were suggestions that his manager (again Flab) would be banned and thus he would be banned by extension
    • The team lost most its sponsorship
      • Thus his seat was insecure and vulnerable to a pay driver (i.e. Petrov)
  • To top it all off, his team-mate was the twice World Champion - notably the most consistently fast driver on the grid
I don't think any other driver has had all of that to deal with.
 
teabagyokel

I do accept Grosjean was not given a fair crack in 2009 and he suffered just as much as Piquet Jnr who really had no chance in the Renault set up with Flavio being the boss

All I say from Grosjean's results and his recent form I think he has real potential to be future world champion now.. another good drive and keeping Kimi honest
 
Is Romein the real deal? Struggled to keep up with Kimi who is coming back to F1 after a 2 year break although there were some reports that Kimi got the pick of the pit stops in Bahrain. Great 3rd for the young man. A future World Champion? Don't know yet.
 
I wouldn't say that Grosjean is a future World Champion, FB, but it is worth remembering that Raikkonen did, for the most part, have the same car with newer tyres.

Anyway, the 2 year break is the same for both of them, isn't it?

Great result for Enstone today, and that includes a driver who certainly doesn't fit into that Fry & Laurie sketch about moaning F1 drivers...
 
Grosjean was every bit as fast as Kimi just at different parts of the race. The times when Kimi was quicker was generally when he was on newer tyres. I think the tres account for pretty much all of the descrepancy between the two drivers. Impressive drive from both today. Grosjean, ironically, qualified too well for his own good.
 
I remember Eddie Jordan was quick to hammer Piquet Jnr in 2009 about his credibility and he then hammered Grosjean who was even worse in even more difficult circumstances

Grosjean came into F1 he was suppose to be the next hope for France as it were and was tipped as a future world champion with an impressive junior record


After two accident races that 6th place in China has helped him calm down and Bahrain is a further indication he does belong to an F1 grid.

Now under the right management this time which was never going to happen under Flavio I do think this guy will be a race winner and world champion. but I don;t think it will be with Lotus though
 

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