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?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Well. He gave Vettel a run for his money. Makes you wonder what he could do in a Red Bull.

Don't shoot me, I'm only jesting.

 

[teabagyokel]

ExtremeNinja - Seriously, I think he could be very good if he was in a Red Bull because he might get a solo run to the first turn.

 

[Josh]

Just a note: Vettel damaged his suspension during his race with Grosjean.

 

[Mephistopheles]

A tainted win then....

 

[downforce]

But Grosjean didn't damage his suspension so it sounds like a fair and square win.

 

[mnmracer]

Well, did Vettel damage his suspension or was his suspension damaged?
Didn't see it unfortunately.

However, great job by Romain. I think he's shown plenty of times he's not short on speed!

 

[Josh]

Vettel bumped the wall and damaged his suspension mnmracer, and Grosjean was ahead anyway if I remember right.

 

[downforce]

Is this the race?

 

[RasputinLives]

I'm not really thinking of Bruno It is just that he was the cause of an accident that came within inches of killing Alonso and that is something I never want to see again....

I see what ya saying Mephistopheles but are you going to take that attitude with every driver who makes an error that leads to something dangerous. Should we ban Schmacher from all forms of racing for his move on Barrichello? Should DC be banned from the paddock for his move on Alex Wurz? Should Hakkenin's career ended in 1994 for his start at Germany? Should we wipe Prost and Senna from the record books for Suzuka 89 and 90? Should we punch Eddie Irvine in the face for his stunt in brazil?

Apart from that last one (never miss a chance to punch Eddie Irvine) of course we shouldn't and some of them were far worse and more delib that what happened at Spa with Grosjean.

Yes he needs to hone in his accidents but saying he needs to go because "he nearly killed someone" is a bit off. Now arguing he should go because he should have got more points in that Lotus last year and I see your point?

 

[Mephistopheles]

Grosjean's start incidents are almost legendary in there ineptness...

 

[downforce]

What does the other guy in the buggy actually do?

 

[RasputinLives]

Grosjean's start incidents are almost legendary in there ineptness...

By legendary are you meaning the true sense of the word and that they are a myth? Heh.

Once again I'd say go back and have a look rather than just join the witch hunt. Monaco and Spa were both terrible and Suzuka wasn't great. Most of the others were racing incidents I'd say.

There is no denying his starts and some of his manouvers were pretty bad in 2012 but he showed plenty of potential as well. Its much easier to make a quick driver safe than it is to make a safe driver quick.

If he gets his contract renewed I think he'll cone good.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Fair enough....

 

[ExtremeNinja]

...and even Fernando ought to take the lion's share of the blame in Monaco.

 

[Josh]

Yeah that's the race downforce. Vettel hit the wall after the first lap as you saw and that damaged his suspension. The other guy in the car is there just to ride with the racers, they're VIPs or prize winners or something like that.

 

[Brogan]

Or in the case of Grosjean, competition losers

 

[Brogan]

Lotus have just confirmed him for the 2013 season: http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/8340245/

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Very happy to hear that. This is last chance saloon for him, though, and I just hope he can find the race-craft to match his speed. I think he's a match for most of the current drivers on one lap pace. I wonder how much better he would look if he hadn't been sharing a garage with Alonso and Raikonnen for the duration of his F1 career.

 

[Brogan]

I don't really rate him.
The fact that he hasn't been able to measure up to his team mates and he finished the 2012 season with less than half the points of Raikkonen, puts him firmly in the second rate driver cubbyhole as far as I am concerned.

 

[Olivier]

He beat Vettel in straight fight? I'm starting to warm to Romain ...