Lotus still evaluating Grosjean before finalising new contract

Lotus boss Eric Boullier says he will finalise a fresh contract with Romain Grosjean as soon as he is convinced that the Frenchman is back to his best

The Enstone-based outfit announced Kimi Raikkonen's contract extension earlier this week, but has not yet elected to sort out a fresh deal with Grosjean.

Boullier says that he wants to take a bit more time to evaluate Grosjean's recovery from his recent first-lap issues - but sees no reason why a deal will not be sorted out in the end.

Speaking to AUTOSPORT, Boullier said: "Obviously he impressed a lot of people by his speed and by the fact he had solid races and scored some podiums, which is not bad for a rookie season.

"But there is the story of his starts and the fact he had a race ban. So we are monitoring it very closely how he is recovering and getting back from this story.

"In Korea and India he did a great job, and this is the Romain Grosjean we expected to have. We would be more pleased if he had a better qualifying, but this is racing.

"So we will monitor it and when we are ready to go for a longer plan we will announce it. We are monitoring it on a day by day basis."

Grosjean said ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that he was relaxed about his contractual situation, and said that his confidence was slowly returning.

"I think the idea was to be conservative for one minute thirty, which is the first lap, and then just push as normal, like I did in Korea and India," he explained.

"I don't think it's going to change much my approach. If there's opportunities here I will go for it, but I won't try anything else."