Eric Boullier says signing no pay drivers shows Lotus Renault's ambition

Lotus Renault boss Eric Boullier says the team's decision not to hire a pay driver shows its ambition to return to the sharp end of the grid

The team has signed Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean for 2012, the Frenchman replacing Vitaly Petrov, who was believed to have significant financial backing.

Boullier says having signed two drivers that will not bring big financial support to the team is a strategy aimed at building a better future for the outfit.

He reckons having the best possible drivers shows how serious the team is about its targets.

"Together with Genii, Gerard [Lopez] and Eric [Lux], we clearly defined the driver strategy to be without any backing because if you have the ambition to be the top team in F1, you need everything to be the best and that includes the drivers," Boullier told AUTOSPORT.

"You cannot take into account the financial backing from a driver, not if you want to have real ambition.

"The decision we took [on Grosjean] was purely a sporting one and absolutely not based on the financial support that we could get directly or indirectly.

"The question is about building a strategy for the future and I'm happy that Genii has confirmed that this is the path. They have shown that they will continue with the investment until we are a top team and winning."