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?

 

[racecub]

Unforced errors yes, they've been his downfall, but you can forgive that with a nye on rookie. But Id say his race pace when he hasnt had incidents and during qualy has been better than Kimi's.

 

[Galahad]

Well you're entitled to say what you like, of course, and I appreciate that excluding his incident races doesn't leave much to go on, but for example:
Bahrain - Grosjean outqualified Kimi, Kimi finished ahead in the race
Spain - same again
Hungary - same again

 

[KekeTheKing]

Grosjean is entering Maldonado territory.

 

[Lewywo4]

Grojean proved today, that he can be just as dangerous as Maldonado

Fernando was lucky today not to be seriously injured.

 

[Hamberg]

Hmmm they are both reckless but Maldonado I think is spiteful/aggressive as opposed to Grosjean who is careless. I've never seen malice from Grosjean. Where they are similar is that you can almost guarantee that if you have to assume you'll come out with damage unless you just give in immediately. That's not right.

 

[Bill Boddy]

The literal translation of Grosjean is Big John, maybe this is a reference to Big Bad John in the song.

 

[RasputinLives]

I'll go with Hamberg. That was shocking start from Grosjean and I hope someone sits him down and has a word like they did with Mika Hakkenien in 95. I don't think its malice though - its just a keeness to get a good start so lets not put him with Maldonado just yet

 

[Mephistopheles]

Watch GP2 and see how those guys race Maldonado has not shaken off that attitude towards racing yet, Grosjean went back to GP2 for one year and he has picked up some really bad habits.

GP2 needs to take a good, long, hard look at itself and ask, is this really the best way to prepare drivers for F1? Because on the face of it it does not seem to be preparing the drivers for the top class of motorsport.

My perception is that as a feeder series it sucks...

 

[Brogan]

Many of us have said as much on the GP2 thread.
The driving standards are shocking and it would appear weaving, blocking and chopping are all permitted.

Article from James Allen states that the drivers he spoke to agreed with the ban and some even thought it should have been longer: http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/09/grosjean-penalty-was-coming-say-drivers/

 

[Josh]

I just hope he learns from this as he's a great guy and definitely has the talent. He has been somewhat of a danger though.

 

[RasputinLives]

I'm really glad to hear him say this (quote from BBC)

"I misjudged the gap to Lewis. I thought I was in front of him. It was a small mistake, but a big incident.
"I'm very sorry and I'm just glad nobody is hurt. That's the main thing."

At least he's accepted responsibility and said sorry. Hopefully just like Hakenien in 95 it'll hammer some sense into him and he'll start to concentrate on being more aware of whats round him off the start.

 

[Mephistopheles]

A bit ironic that Alonso criticized a jump start though..

 

[KekeTheKing]

All of Grosjean's 2012 incidents.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I call that premature....

 

[The Pits]

The Australian GP showed things to come:

"And there is Grosjean going past Maldonado"

If ever there was a sentance tailor made to precede the arrival of a decimated F1 car...

 

[teabagyokel]

KekeTheKing - It is incredible how similar the views from Schumi at Monaco and Hamilton at Spa really are.

 

[KekeTheKing]

I call that premature....

All of Grosjean's 2012 incidents. (so far)

That better Mephistopheles?

 

[KekeTheKing]

KekeTheKing - It is incredible how similar the views from Schumi at Monaco and Hamilton at Spa really are.

At Monaco Grosjean had Alonso on his right, but watching it several times again yesterday, it's pretty clear that he moves a good couple feet towards Schumacher unnecessarily.

The thing that made Spa so egregious was that there was nobody even close to Romain on his left. He had no reason whatsoever to move so far over to the right.

 

[Jos the Boss]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19512281
Has everyone seen these comments from Kamui?

 

[RasputinLives]

What price a Grosjean podium this weekend? Be interesting to see how he reacts coming back in