Lotus: Grosjean’s season starts now

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier is convinced Romain Grosjean’s podium in Bahrain is a sign of things to come…

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier is convinced Romain Grosjean’s podium in Bahrain is a sign of things to come.

While team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was battling for victories in the first three races of the season, Grosjean found life a lot more difficult in the middle of the pack with some car troubles.

The fact that a lot of eyes were on him following his mixed 2012 campaign when he was involved in several first-lap incidents also didn’t help his cause.

The Frenchman, though, got his head down and he found a happy medium at the Sakhir circuit last time out as he finished third behind race winner Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Raikkonen.

Boullier feels Grosjean has proved he can stay out of trouble and is also confident he will build on the success he had at Bahrain.

“If you look at the season so far, except for the car issue, he didn’t have troubles,” said Boullier.

“He was having good starts, good first laps and good overtaking manoeuvres. So I think he is okay now. But Bahrain was a big relief. He put a lot of effort in to rebuild himself after 2012, and it is now paying off.

“He had a frustrating first three races, but he can now build on this and keep the momentum.”

Although Lotus changed his chassis in Bahrain, Boullier believes several other factors contributed to Grosjean’s excellent display.

“It was not only the chassis, there were a lot of details to understand why it didn’t work,” he said. “But the team did a good job and we found a couple of things that made Romain happy with his car.

“So when he started to enjoy driving, it was a different world. I know he is starting his season now.”