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?
 
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laFrau said:
Look! A driver managed by the team boss! And in Renault, again!
Didn't they FIA say they would do something to avoid the evident conflict of interests that happens when the team boss is also the manager of one/both of the drivers? :thinking:

--------------------------------------------
In the little I could watch of Grosjean in GP2, it looked to me that he has matured a lot as a driver. I think he could be an interesting addition to the grid :)
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Last time he was thrown into the cauldron of fire when Renault was in a real mess and did not get a fair chance

This time he can't have complaints

Grosjean should be glad he is no longer managed by Flav seeing how he was used as a pawn to undermine Nelsinho
 
Il_leone said:
Last time he was thrown into the cauldron of fire when Renault was in a real mess and did not get a fair chance

This time he can't have complaints

Grosjean should be glad he is no longer managed by Flav seeing how he was used as a pawn to undermine Nelsinho
Click to expand
Yep, but this time Grosjean is managed by Gravity/Genii/Boullier what brings us to the same situation the team faced when Flavio was team boss and manager of one/both drivers of the team.

Boullier could undermine Grosjean, or he could undermine Räikkönen to improve the public image of his protégé, or he could behave and do nothing "dirty".
Just the thought that it could happen again makes me nervous :disappointed:
The FIA promised they would take care of these things but they haven't and I feel I've been fooled (again):givemestrength:
 
I think the Total deal that Grosjean brings may have had as much to do with it as the Boullier factor if I'm honest. I get the feeling that Petrov/Senna/Grosjean were all seen as much the same talent wise and it was all about who would make their wallets fatter
 
it was plain obvious the Flavio was only interested in increasing his wallet from every opportunity he could in using his drivers and justify they bring the results so there was nothing wrong with it until Nelsinho spoke out against him and exposed him for what he is - a crook

Now Alonso is smart player in that he wants Flav to serve his interests in which he truly did and it did not matter if it meant screwing the other driver or teammate to get there

Webber is different because he just wants to drive in F1 and show he is amongst the best and had a few failed attempts with
Mercedes preferring Heidfeld and Zonta and Arrows- Portman F3000 team partnership nothing came to fruition from that. After rejecting Renault for Williams back in 2005 he realised he will listen to Flav next time and sure he did when offered a lifeline to join Red Bull - the engine deal was discounted no doubt if Red Bull hired Webber as well

As for Grosjean he's won everything major junior class you can ask for much like Hulkenberg so this time he has not got excuses

Whereas last year Bouillier thought he was not mentally prepared for F1 he's changed his tact this time round

As for Senna and Petrov. I was expecting Senna to get the drive because of the name and the marketing that comes with it which would be what Bahar wants
Petrov he bought a substantial sponsorship but it nearly went kaput last year with last minute hiccup over the money coming through

I think both are frozen out of drives for 2012 because Sutil is surely going to get the Williams seat based on experience unless either can convince Sauber to offer them a drive with a lot more money
 
jez101 said:
Apparently Boullier is Romains manager? How does that work in negotiations? :dunno:
Click to expand
Well that's not fair is it! No wonder he got the nod over Petrov and Senna!
The negotiations must have gone a bit like this

Driver manager Boullier- "Ah, Mr. Boullier, Id like to suggest you take my driver Grosjean as one of your drivers for next year, he comes very highly recommended."
Boullier dives round other side of desk
Team manager Boullier- "Oh hello there Eric. I hear you, but you know Ive signed Kimi and I already have two drivers who have equipped themselves very well for my team. Why would I gamble on a different driver?"
Boullier dives round other side of desk
Driver manager Boullier- "Well, because he's very good"
Boullier dives round other side of desk
Team manager Boullier- "Your sure! Can I trust you on this?"
Boullier dives round other side of desk
Driver manager Boullier- "Absolutely! 100% Fo' sure!"
Boullier dives round other side of desk
Team manager Boullier- "Ok. Its a deal. Lets shake on it
Boullier goes to the end of the desk, streches one arm round one side and the other arm round the other side and shakes hands with himself
Team manager Boullier- "Now bring the young man in and lets tell him the good news"
 
jez101 said:
Apparently Boullier is Romains manager? How does that work in negotiations? :dunno:
Click to expand

Speak to Flavio Briatore he has a history of taking money by the backpocket when he was in charge of Renault with Alonso, Fisichella, Trulli, Piquet, Kovalainen , Webber ( as tester), and Grosjean by placing the drivers into the team he manages
 
Senna's_right_foot said:
Alesi says Renault's main reason for signing Grosjean is because of his French sponsor, Total
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/272672/alesi-grosjean-s-sponsor-was-the-main-factor/

Renault say, 'no it wasn't'
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96725
Click to expand


One only has to look at how Renault struggled this season because of a lack of resources .

No one knows how much Proton are willing to invest into the team to market the Lotus name and the last few seasons Renault have been on tighter budgets than the leading teams
 
teabagyokel said:
He won't be doing that in F1...

Fact at the 2009 Brazilian GP he lost places at that rate!
Click to expand

Everyone is so quick to knock Big Jean after his 2009 performance but you have to remember he came in to the middle of a season where the cars were probably the most complicated they've ever been to drive (ask Fisi about the 2009 Ferrari) and if you look at his stats compared to Alonso(which I think are avaliable in CPA's stats section) he didn't do too badly. Add to that 2 years more experience and a dominant win in GP2 in a car that frankly wasn't the best in the field and I wouldn't be surprised if he gave a few people a few shocks this season - namely Kimi!

I could be wrong though I have been in the past!
 
I'm not saying he had an easy job, nor that he did particularly badly. Hell, he was only passed so often at Interlagos because Vettel, Button, Hamilton etc. all qualified out of position in the deluge!
 
teabagyokel said:
GP2 will be discredited this year if Grosjean and Hulkenburg make a mess of it to match Maldonado.
Click to expand


They are both in better cars than Pastor so should beat him you think

I think you are being harsh on both Grosjean and Hulkenburg who both have had to sit out a season of F1 and wait their chance and not rely on huge backing to get into f1
 
Just noticed I'm the only one so far thats gone for Grosjean in the team-mate predictions.

Is their no one else that like me feels the fact that Grosjean drove last years Renault in testing and in Friday sessions and spent last season racing on the same circuits as F1 in a single seater series might give him a slight advantage going into the start of the year? and if Kimi gets behind a team-mate we've all see how his head can go down. Not sure why everyone has written Grosjean off so much. He's been in F1 before in possibley the most difficult seat to take over (Alonso's number 2 under Flav!) and he dominated GP2 last year - frankly he deserves this seat far more than Bruno Senna or Petrov!

hmmm maybe its just me then
 
Yes, current play in TMP on Lotus:

TBY.webp


If you want to go for Grosjean or reinforce Raikkonen's popularity then you know what to do...

Of interest, Renault was the only team where no-one went for the right driver (Petrov) last year!
 
Just notice Grosjean appears to be racing under Swiss Nationality rather than French like he did last time. I wonder why he decided to switch.
 

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