Romain Grosjean says 2012 errors helped him become stronger

The Frenchman, who is set to remain at Lotus even though his new deal has not yet been confirmed, got involved in a spate of first lap incidents in 2012 - and was handed a one-race ban after the Belgian Grand Prix for causing a crash.

Although he avoided further trouble on his return, Grosjean says that the post-season period has delivered him proper time to reflect on the areas where he must do better in 2013.

Speaking during the Race of Champions, Grosjean said: "I think when there are stats that show you have one fastest lap, three podiums and 96 points and stuff like that, and if you told me one year ago at ROC [that I would have that] - I would not believe it.

"So it was a good year in that respect. We had some fantastic results, [although] a little bit too [many] mistakes as well - which is the shadow of the year.

"But they helped me to improve myself in the winter - to try to analyse it, keep the speed we show and go for the results we deserve. We now need to score points for the team, for myself and for all the championship."

Grosjean said the support from Enstone has been key in helping him recover from the criticism he faced after the Spa-Francorchamps collision, which eliminated world championship contenders Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

"I really like the atmosphere of the team," he said. "We know each other much better now. We can work from there and improve ourselves. The support they showed was great.

"Coming back from the race ban at Spa was very hard, and there was not much time to recover.

"It was not the easiest time, but I think even in those tough times we showed good pace - like qualifying fourth in Austin - so let's capitalise on that and not make any mistakes and go for what we want."