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?

 

[Titch]

He has certainly upped his game, and he seems to be quite a likeable person as well

 

[downforce]

Good to see he is keeping his skills sharp seeing as he only has a handful of laps in testing.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112624

I hope his lack of testing doesn't see him lose the form he developed last year.

 

[nenoste95]

I appreciate Romain's impetuosity and ingenuity, in my opinion he's getting better GP than GP. But this year we will discover if he's ready to be the first driver of Lotus, if he will manage to find the better balance for his car

 

[Jos the Boss]

nenoste95 has anyone offered you a complimentary moustache yet? If not, here, if so, have two!
But will he only be the lead driver if he wins a GP or just if he beats Pastor? He should be starting as lead due to his extra years with Lotus/Renault

 

[nenoste95]

Jos the Boss beating Pastor is not enough, I'm waiting for RG's victories, he has to be an important outsider with Nico Rosberg this year. These two guys are maybe a step back than Seba, Lewis, Kimi and Fer, but they have to make their way difficult!

 

[Titch]

I certainly hope that Grosjean consistently beats Maldonado, as to winning races, well first they have to be able to afford to run the car, let alone finding funds to upgrade it to a race winner.

 

[RasputinLives]

"Everytime I brake the car pulls to the left" says Grosjean over the radio.

Sounds a little bit scary and like the car is not good at all.

Then he promptly puts it in 5th. Impressive from Grosjean once again in Spain.

 

[Il_leone]

I hope RoGro now seriously destroys Maldonado and kicks him out of F1 for good

 

[Boisko2]

In 2012 both current Lotus drivers were crash kids. Now look at them, Grosjean has matured, Maldonado is still the same guy.

 

[Jos the Boss]

But only one is a race winner...

 

[teabagyokel]

I think it is easy to underestimate how well he had to do to stay in F1 this far. His team-mates were Alonso and Raikkonen. He's still facing a race winner.

These drivers are rookie killers, it's difficult to survive a career shown up by them as your only appearance.

He's shown enough against Raikkonen to get a chance to look as good as he has this season. Chapeau!

 

[RasputinLives]

According to the soundbites from Lopez in this article there were teams enquiring about getting Grosjean for this year and they've already had some enquiries about getting him for 2015.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114030

Wonder who that was.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Williams and Force India would be my guesses. Although it could be the usual heap praise on one driver, heap pressure on you're other driver who is currently under-performing and costing the team lots of money.

Either way the praise is justified, Grosjean's acquitted himself very well this year given the competitiveness of the car.

 

[RasputinLives]

I wonder if when Mclaren were enquiring after Boullier last year they were looking into Grosjean at the same time.

 

[Titch]

Why would Grosjean want to go to McLaren at the moment? Unless he wants to wear a pink wig!

 

[RasputinLives]

I meant last season when they first started talking to Boullier.

As for why he wants to be a Mclaren. They may be down and out at the moment but as they always do they will rise again (especially with Honda coming) and whilst Enstone will always get themselves back in the mix, based on historical facts, Mclaren are more likely to give Grosjean the equiptment he needs for a title shot.

Maybe he'd consider getting in on the ground floor. Worked for Hamilton with Merc.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives Titch no-FIAt-please

Grosjean and Hulkenburg would amongst the two drivers to consider to replace people like Raikkonen and Button and for Romain he has to move if Lopes keeps making false promises about Lotus' position

 

[Titch]

Il_leone Grosjean and Hulkenberg are both promising drivers. They need the luck that Ricciardo had this year. I know RB aren't at the top of the game, but they are streets ahead of McLaren, I agree both need a better drive, maybe Ferrari?

 

[Il_leone]

Titch I don't see Ferrari keeping their line up for 2015 because Kimi at the moment is and seems to be really struggling until last race

Alonso 's patience is wearing thin with Maranello so one will leave

As for Mclaren - not sure how much influence Bouillier will have on choosing drivers

 

[FB]

Grosjean drives Prost's '83 Renault, lucky boy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/27750174