Romain Grosjean has admitted that he had a couple of sleepless nights over his 2013 race seat with Lotus.
While all the other top teams confirmed their line-ups before the end of the 2012 season, Lotus waited until Monday to announce that the Frenchman would once again partner Kimi Raikkonen in the new year.
Having finished his first full season in Formula One in eighth place in the Drivers' Championship with three podiums, Grosjean had every reason to be optimistic about his future at the team, but he will be the first to admit the number of crashes he was involved in left a bitter taste in the mount.
The 26-year-old was described as a "first-lap nutcase" by Red Bull's Mark Webber after he was involved in several incidents and he failed to see the chequered flag in seven races.
With his immediate future finally sorted out, Grosjean can now take it easy over the next few weeks.
"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."
Asked about expectations for the upcoming season, he replied: "It is pretty clear. They just want me to get to the end of the races. That's all we need to do."
