Romain Grosjean feared Lotus Formula 1 seat was lost
Romain Grosjean has admitted that he feared for his Formula 1 future after his up-and-down 2012 season
Lotus confirmed on Monday that the 26-year-old will stay with the team in 2013 despite question marks over the mistakes that punctuated an otherwise promising campaign.
The team is known to have considered alternatives, including Heikki Kovalainen and Kamui Kobayashi, but has opted to retain Grosjean, who claimed three podiums this season.
"I was worried," Grosjean told AUTOSPORT. "It hasn't been the easiest part of the season, to get to December when all of the races are done and you are waiting for an answer.
"I had good discussions with the team owners and we tried to analyse the situation, understand it and see if we could keep the speed at where we wanted to and to score a lot of points."
Click here for AUTOSPORT's take on why Lotus had to keep Grosjean
Grosjean accepted that the key to next season will be to get to the end of races, having failed to finish on eight of his 19 starts in 2012.
But when he did finish, he scored heavily, standing on the podium in Bahrain, Canada and Hungary before the August break.
"It is pretty clear," he said when asked about the team's expectations. "They just want me to get to the end of the races. That's all we need to do."
Grosjean believes that the key to stringing together consistent results will be having the right approach.
With Lotus winning its first race since 2008 (when it ran under the Renault name) this year and on an upward curve, the Franco-Swiss driver could be in the mix for a maiden victory.
But Grosjean is refusing to be distracted by such objectives.
"Let's see what happens next season," said Grosjean.
"First of all, we need to do the best with the car that we have, then do the best on the driving and engineering side and not worry about objectives.
"This year, there were some incidents because of sometimes going for the wrong objectives.
"Winning races would be fantastic, but first of all I want to do the best job for the team, for myself and to take everything step-by-step during the weekend.
"We will see after the chequered flag where we are."
2013 Formula 1 line-up so far: Red Bull Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber Ferrari Fernando Alonso Felipe Massa McLaren Jenson Button Sergio Perez Lotus Kimi Raikkonen Romain Grosjean Mercedes Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg Sauber Nico Hulkenberg Esteban Gutierrez Force India Paul di Resta seat still available Williams Pastor Maldonado Valtteri Bottas Toro Rosso Daniel Ricciardo Jean-Eric Vergne Caterham Charles Pic seat still available Marussia Timo Glock Max Chilton* * Chilton was confirmed by Marussia on Tuesday
Why Lotus is right to keep Grosjean
Norbert Haug accepts responsibility for Mercedes' Formula 1 failure
Sauber keen to "give the best to Alfa Romeo" amid Audi F1 links
Frederic Vasseur says that Sauber is focusing to “give the best to Alfa Romeo” through its Formula 1 partnership amid links to a possible takeover by Audi in the future.
Former F1 race director Masi to get Supercars Commission role
Former Formula 1 race director Michael Masi is set to become the new Chairman of the Supercars Commission in Australia.
Verstappen: No quick solution to extremely heavy F1 cars
Red Bull world champion Max Verstappen thinks there is no quick solution to tackle the burgeoning weight of Formula 1 cars, which has proven an unpopular aspect of the 2022 rules revolution.
Grading F1's 2022 drivers at half-term
Over the first 13 races of Formula 1's new ground effects era, Max Verstappen has surged into the lead in the world championship over Charles Leclerc. But as the 2022 season prepares to roar back into life, who stacks up as the top of the class, and who must do better? We graded every driver based on their performances so far
Grading F1's 2022 drivers at half-term
Over the first 13 races of Formula 1's new ground effects era, Max Verstappen has surged into the lead in the world championship over Charles Leclerc. But as the 2022 season prepares to roar back into life, who stacks up as the top of the class, and who must do better? We graded every driver based on their performances so far
The 10 stories to watch out for across the rest of the 2022 F1 season
It’s 13 down, nine to go as the Formula 1 teams pause for breath in the summer break. But what can we expect to happen over the next three months from Belgium to Abu Dhabi? Here's the key storylines to keep an eye out for the rest of the 2022 season
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
How a bad car creates the ultimate engineering challenge
While creating a car that is woefully off the pace is a nightmare scenario for any team, it inadvertently generates the test any engineering department would relish: to turn it into a winner. As Mercedes takes on that challenge in Formula 1 this season, McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering reveals how the team pulled of the feat in 2009 with Lewis Hamilton
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?