Grosjean eyes another opportunity

Editor

Romain Grosjean is certain that he will have an improved 2013 season if he is handed a drive by the Lotus Formula One team…

Romain Grosjean is certain that he will have an improved 2013 season if he is handed a drive by the Lotus Formula One team.

The Frenchman was recruited to partner former world champion Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus in 2012 and had a promising start to the year, despite some early incidents.

He was a good a match for the Finn in terms of speed and out-qualified his more illustrious team-mate 10-9, as well as claiming three podium finishes.

However, he was involved in several accidents during the second half of the season and received a one-race ban for his crash at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Lotus is expected to decide on Grosjean’s future soon and he believes that he is capable of repaying their faith if he is awarded with a contract for next year.

“Normally it is one year to learning, two years to win, but in Formula One it is a bit different,” the 26-year-old noted.

“It’s hard to say how much stronger you normally are because all these things you digest over the winter, and restart with winter testing… we know where to start, what to test, what to improve.

“There are ups and downs, but I think this year has been mainly 10,000 more things I’ve learned than in the past.

He made his F1 debut with Renault in 2009 when he replaced Nelson Piquet Jr. at the European Grand Prix, but endured a few tough races before returning to GP2 in 2010.

Despite his inconsistent 2012 season, Grosjean hopes that some of the good results he achieved make spectators revise their opinion of him.

“I think it started with the third place on the grid in Melbourne and then we had some podiums and the atmosphere inside myself and everything in the team has been working very well. I like working with all the guys,” he added.

“I think we were quicker than I was expecting. There have been some lows, but I think they helped me improve myself and I think the last four races have been interesting.

“So I feel much better than I did at the beginning of the season. I’ve been learning a lot, I’m still learning and improving myself a lot as well.”