Romain Grosjean: Formula 1's Six Million Dollar Man

Romain Grosjean may prove to be that rarest of things in Formula 1: a driver who fails in his first, fleeting appearance in the sport, but then returns to establish himself as a serious contender at the top level. He has yet to fulfill the second part of that equation but, make no mistake, the 25-year-old Franco-Swiss has the means, the motive and the opportunity to become a very successful grand prix driver. He certainly deserves his chance at Lotus having come, as he puts it "the long way round" back into F1.

During his seven outings for Renault in 2009, Grosjean's pace was far better than many give him credit for when you consider that he couldn't test the car before making his debut at Valencia and his high-quality team-mate Fernando Alonso. Fundamentally, however, he wasn't ready for F1. He made himself unpopular in the team by not learning from his mistakes and by carrying himself as someone who had made it to the big-time, rather than one just taking his first steps there. He also made a poor impression out of the car. Indeed, his habit of going for a very public run before jumping in the car - a technique that he believed gave him a psychological edge - was a source of much amusement to many of his rivals.

Testing has gone well for Grosjean at Jerez and Barcelona © LAT

He was never going to keep his drive, but remained on the radar of team owner Genii Capital through team principal Eric Boullier, who is also in charge of the company's Gravity Management scheme. What happened over the next couple of years is the definition of character building. After starting 2010 in the GT1 World Championship, giving him an idea of what life after F1 could mean, he was phased back into single-seaters, first via Auto GP - which he won that year despite missing a third of the races - and then a few GP2 outings. That led to a full-time drive with DAMS last season in which he didn't just have to win the title, but had to, in the words of Boullier, "be the boss" of the category and drive the team on. He did just that and Boullier backed his rehabilitated driver to the hilt by giving him an F1 race drive. In a way, Grosjean is Boullier's $6 million man ("We can rebuild him... better, stronger, faster...").

"The experience of coming the long way round was really important for me," says Grosjean. "I needed to gain some maturity, and much quicker than in the normal way. What happened in 2009 was a challenge and it was great to do it, but I think that it was the wrong time for me. I was not ready for it. Now, I am."

Still not convinced? It's understandable, for the Grosjean of three years ago would probably have declared himself ready - even when he clearly wasn't. But consider this: when Grosjean was being phased back into the race team at Renault late last year, initially as first reserve in Singapore and then as Friday driver in Abu Dhabi and Brazil, he had to win over a team that was extremely sceptical about him after what had happened before. But it wasn't long before those engineers and mechanics were won over. It was clear that he had the speed, it was clear that he had ticked every other box and by the end of last year, it was clear that he had won over the doubters who really mattered.

Grosjean (on grass) admits he was not ready for F1 with Renault in 2009 © LAT

So, having established that Grosjean deserves his place at Lotus, what will we see from him this year? He has a world champion team-mate in Kimi Raikkonen but you can certainly envisage him giving the Finn a hard time. While the 2007 title winner has been rallying for the past two years, Grosjean has remained in single-seaters, has a little extra experience of the way Pirelli rubber works and the advantage of a rolling start from the end of last year. He is also a seriously quick racing driver; that was obvious even during the bad times.

You can be certain that, privately, Grosjean reckons he can show very well relative to Raikkonen, though he very wisely dodges the question when posed by trotting out the traditional line about wanting to beat everyone, not just his team-mate.

"There are 23 drivers on the grid to beat," says Grosjean. "Any sportsman who tells you that he wants to finish fifth or sixth is a liar; we all want to win when we are in the car.

"It's a very good situation to have Kimi on board. We want the same things, we want to achieve some really good results and I'm pleased that we can work together."

Raikkonen, who has resembled the Kimi of old during testing, will be the perfect yardstick for a driver that has the potential to emerge as a race winner and perhaps even more than that. What will be fascinating will be to see how Grosjean reacts when put under pressure in F1. If he can stand up to the intense scrutiny of being in a team that fancies itself as a podium contender, and the spotlight of partnering such a high-profile driver, it will go a long way to proving that the new, stronger Grosjean is up to the task in F1.

His rehabilitation was completed last year as Grosjean 'bossed' GP2 with DAMS © LAT

And, of course, there will be plenty of pressure. The Geneva-born driver describes himself as "European" when quizzed about his roots in both Switzerland and France (he once worked in a Swiss bank) but there's no doubt that he will be flying the flag for France this year. The last French driver to win a grand prix was Olivier Panis - at Monaco way back in 1996 - and Grosjean is first in the queue to end that drought over the next few years.

"I hope that one day I will get to hear the Marseillaise on the podium," says Grosjean. "But I don't feel any pressure. I'm proud to be part of the [new wave of] French drivers back in F1. As Jackie Stewart used to say: grand prix is a French world - and we have a great history of motor racing. I will fly the flag."

The first target will inevitably be to break his F1 points duck. There's no question that the Lotus E20 will be capable of doing that in Melbourne on Sunday and it would be the perfect way for Grosjean to ease himself back into grand prix race action. It's a sign of his new maturity that he's not become fixated with artificial goals.

Sports psychologists will tell you that things go awry when competitors become focused on the objective rather than the process that must be followed to achieve such aims and Grosjean is wary of falling into such a track. Asked whether he sees himself as a rookie despite those seven starts, he laughs and counters with the definition: "a young driver going into a good team". Judged on his own terms, that means that we can accept a few 'rookie' mistakes provided he can show reasonably well relative to his team-mate. This weekend's race should give a better picture of what Grosjean can be expected to achieve.

Can he be France's first grand prix winner since Olivier Panis at Monaco in '96? © LAT

"I want to get the best from this season," says Grosjean. "Sometimes drivers make a mistake, we all know that, because we are human but if you can get the best out of what you have 85-90 per cent of the time then you can be proud of what you have achieved. At the moment, we have to wait and see where we are in the standings and where we are with the car.

"It is too early to say I want to score points in that race, I want to finish in the top five here and then I want to get a podium in Monaco, that would put pressure on me and so I will see in Melbourne. The first race of the year is one of the best of the season and we will see where we are."

Needless to say, everyone at Lotus has reason to be optimistic, despite the serious setback suffered when it had to pull out of the first Barcelona test because of a suspension mount problem. At the final Barcelona test, the team picked up where it left off, now with aluminium rather than carbon fibre mounts where the problem manifested itself, and the Lotus E20 looks like a car that could be snapping at the heels of the frontrunning teams.

"I think we can achieve something this season," says Grosjean. "The key will be to have a good season and improve ourselves race after race. If we do that, it will be a good baseline for the future. Then we can start working towards the world championship."

That sums up where both the team and Grosjean are at this year. Lotus must regain the momentum it picked up in 2010 and at the start of last year (before it became apparent that it's front-exit exhausts were a developmental cul-de-sac) in order to be considered a credible emerging force. For Grosjean to be part of that in the long-term, he must prove that he has indeed learned from the "long way round" that has taken him from F1 failure back to his previous status as a potential star.

He's taken the two steps back, but earned them back over the past two years. Now, it's down to him to take the next strides.