Romain Grosjean stays on with Lotus for 2015 Formula 1 season

Although Grosjean had an ongoing contract with the team, he had the opportunity to break away due to its poor performance in 2014, and had been linked with other teams - including McLaren - during the summer.

He recently indicated that Lotus's deal to switch from Renault to Mercedes power next year had made staying put a more attractive proposition, and the team has now confirmed that he will remain on board.

"We've been waiting to announce it for a while now so it's really good to finally confirm that I will be staying with the team next season," said Grosjean.

"My finger's been poised over the tweet button for quite a while and there might even have been a little jump-start! Fortunately, there's no stop and go penalty," added the Frenchman, who had already announced his new deal on social media before removing it.

Grosjean has spent his entire F1 career so far with the Enstone team, having initially joined during its Renault era, when he replaced Nelson Piquet Jr alongside Fernando Alonso halfway through 2009.

That stint proved unsuccessful and he was dropped at the end of the campaign.

But Grosjean earned another chance after winning the Auto GP, GP2 Asia and GP2 titles, plus World GT1 races, as well as impressing in test outings, and he returned to the grid with the now-Lotus-branded squad for 2012.

"I think we make a great combination," Grosjean added.

"We've been working together for a long time now and I certainly didn't want to leave on a performance low like we've seen in 2014 as we've enjoyed some beautiful moments together.

"It would have just felt wrong to say goodbye in a tough patch like we have had in 2014, because I know what everyone at Enstone is capable of.

"Moments like this can either make you stronger or destroy you and I'm sure that the team is only going to learn from what has been a hard year."

After a shaky period characterised by accidents, which reached its nadir when he was banned from the 2012 Italian Grand Prix for triggering a massive startline crash in the preceding race in Belgium, Grosjean settled in to become a respected frontrunner.

He has nine podium finishes to his name so far, with seventh in last year's world championship his best placing to date.

2015 F1 FIELD SO FAR:

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton/Nico Rosberg
Red Bull-Renault: Daniel Ricciardo/Daniil Kvyat
Williams-Mercedes: Valtteri Bottas/Felipe Massa
Ferrari: Kimi Raikkonen/Sebastian Vettel (tbc)
McLaren-Honda: Fernando Alonso (tbc)/Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen (tbc)
Force India-Mercedes: Nico Hulkenberg/Sergio Perez (tbc)
Toro Rosso-Renault: Max Verstappen/(tbc)
Lotus-Mercedes: Romain Grosjean/Pastor Maldonado
Sauber-Ferrari: Marcus Ericsson/Felipe Nasr