The 24-year-old Swiss Romain Grosjean is hoping for a return to F1 in 2011, and hinting that Renault is his best hope.
Grosjean replaced Nelson Piquet Jr at the French team in 2009 and unfortunately his time in Formula 1 is more remembered for crashes and spins. Grosjean explained:
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. With all the problems around the team, it wasn’t easy; they wanted to make a clean sweep of the past. I want to come back in 2011. I’m not losing hope. When I see Fernando Alonso‘s results with Ferrari this year, I think I deserve a place on the grid; my pace was far from being ridiculous – I was never more than two or three tenths off him in qualifying.”
Romain Grosjean
Grosjean added that he is still in contact with Eric Bouiller, the new Renault team boss:
“I’m still in contact with Eric Boullier. We like and respect each other professionally and, once in Europe, I will walk around the paddock to establish other contacts and see if this could unlock something.”
Romain Grosjean
Personally I believe that Romain has a point. I hope I’m wrong when I say that it’s highly unlikely any F1 teams will look at him in terms of a race seat again. It seems grossly unfair that he was given just 7 races to prove his F1 potential and seems to perfectly sum up the modern attitude in F1 that you have to perform well instantly, and Grosjean wasn’t bad by any means!
I’m just clinging on to the hope that Kubica replaces Massa at Ferrari and that makes way for Romain!
yes, grosjean and badoer back to F1…. the joke of the year… now, seriously… who has better chances for an F1 seat? Heidfeld and Fisichella, or Grosjean?
f1jocker12
I think comparing Luca Badoer with Romain Grosjean is stupid, Grosjean only had 7 races to prove his worth whereas Badoer has had 50 Grands Prix and is still shockingly bad! I would say you are correct in saying Heidfeld has a better chance of getting an F1 seat, being Mercedes test driver, as I can’t see Schumi being around too much longer, however you are incorrect in saying Fisichella. He is 37 now and his chances of ever getting back into F1 are virtually nil. If I was a team boss I would certainly look to bring in Grosjean over Fisichella, as someone with 4 GP2 wins and a GP2 Asia title has potential too good to miss.
If Massa was chucked out then he could end up at Renault.
Romain suffered because of the testing ban and Renault were quick to get rid of him but Jaime was in exactly the same situation with STR who go through their drivers notoriously quickly but he survived.
Nothing has changed with testing really, it is more relaxed but it is still a mess for rookies. I can’t help but think he would have been better to go to GP2, this latest move won’t help his f1 ambitions much.
Was Grosjean a victim of the rules? yes probably but F1 has a lot more promising talent in the wings, he probably won’t be much better for a long while if he does return and Renault have made clear they want to fight for championships and Romain has absolutely nothing to offer on that front.
Alguersuari succeeded in remaining in F1 with impressive performances with a lot less racing experience than Grosjean and also having a slower car.
Simple fact is, Grosjean did nothing to prove he is worthy of F1.
If Grosjean had remotely performed well in any race I’d give him my backing, but he did not, whereas Jaime was within a second of his team-mate on his first ever F1 weekend.
I don’t think Grosjean was that slow. He was in a team that had one of the slowest cars on the grid, and even Alonso was very slow. Grosjean had no testing at all and I think he should get another chance.
When Piquet was fired at Renault, the first driver they wanted in that seat was Vitaly Petrov, but he didn’t want to drive half-season only. So they offered the seat to Grosjean, and he took it. Petrov now got a full-season.
Two things irritate me slightly about this.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. ”
Petrov was brave and clever enough to wait until he was ready. Most drivers would snap the team’s hand off if there was an offer but it is their choice.
“they wanted to make a clean sweep of the past”
If he had shown as much potential as Petrov who was completely unknown in an F1 car at this time then they would have kept him. They may have wanted a clean break but Grosjean gave them almost no incentive to pause for thought.
jack… de la rosa is 39 and looks good for sauber….
grosjean got a car in the winter driving in “Andros Trophee”, against alain prost, olivier panis and paul belmondo….
drifting on ice and snow….
that’s his league….
and … no offense…
I did not compared grosjean with badoer…
and
That’s why you are not a team boss…
anyway we pay too much attention to this matter…. no worth at all… from a team manager to another;)
ok ok hold the fone
“I think comparing Luca Badoer with Romain Grosjean is stupid, Grosjean only had 7 races to prove his worth whereas Badoer has had 50 Grands Prix and is still shockingly bad! ”
that is abesolute bs man…Badoer isnt a bad driver he never was the 48 grand prixs he had were with teams that didnt prove his worth…i love minardi but they werent fast or reliable!Forti were a complete joke and its the same with Lola he had 48 grand prixs and not 1 in a car to prove his worth…he then returns 10 years later with no testing either…and gets slammed….Fisco thn hops in the car and does no sodding better BADOER ISNT BAD AT ALL face it without KERS ferrari wouldnt of got anywhere in that season…KERS is the only reason Kimi won at spa Fisco would of past him in that Force india car and left him behind…Grosjean wasnt given a fair chance i will be honest…but neither was Badoer they should both do a comeback and prove all of the ppl that slagged them of wrong…