Grosjean gets his chance

[McArthur252]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96698

Good on him, I think he deserves it. Also think it's good for Renault to have a completely new start.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Greatly deserved IMO. The way he bounced back after being rejected by the team in 2009 was fantastic, going from free agent to AutoGP and GP2 champion in less than 18 months - not in the best of teams on the top of it.

[steve_r]

Lets hope he does better than last time. He has the talent.

[brands hatch]

I'm not a massive fan, I still think senna/Raikkonen would be better for next season, however I will reserve full judgement until mid season!

[Aysedasi]

I'd rather have had Senna/Grosjean......

[Jacques Rabbit]

I'll predict he goes worse than Petrov would have...

I know Petrov isn't rated here, and it's not that I think he's a top talent, but I just see more in him than I've seen in Grosjean or Senna. I don't think he gets the full credit he deserves, possibly because he's a "ridebuyer."

I hope he lands somewhere. He is plenty good enough to be in Formula One.

As for Grosjean, well, he doesn't do much for me (he didn't really beat anyone of interest in GP2, especially given his experience) but I am open to him having a second chance. Just not optimistic about it, and maybe a little bitter Petrov got canned.

[Paradise City]

All three, Grosjean, Senna and Petrov have big question marks on them talent-wise but all three have promise. Total rescuing Grosjean was very unexpected.

[strider]

When the boys from Enstone have rebuilt a few wrecks the bosses will realise that they made the wrong decision.

[Super Hans]

I'm very pleased. I felt F1 chewed Grosjean up and spat him out. Could there have been a worse situation in which to make one's debut? Mid-season, no testing, inferior equipment, team going through turmoil...etc

I've been delighted by both Lotus Renault's driver announcements, and will be right behind them in 2012.

Originally Posted by strider

When the boys from Enstone have rebuilt a few wrecks the bosses will realise that they made the wrong decision.

I always respect your views, so this has me a bit worried, but I hope you turn out to be wrong on this occasion!

[strider]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

I always respect your views, so this has me a bit worried, but I hope you turn out to be wrong on this occasion!

Thanks for the first part! As for the second, it my well be. My over-riding impression of Grosjean is that he is erratic, but maybe he's ironed that out over the last couple of years.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by strider

When the boys from Enstone have rebuilt a few wrecks the bosses will realise that they made the wrong decision.

Yep, they'll dump Raikkonen pretty quickly........

[peebee2]

The team had a great chance to have a really good look at Senna and, having done so, perhaps can see that he's just not quite good enough.

You can buy all of the advantages money can buy, several seasons all in the best, most expensive equipment with as much testing and practice as humanly possible but if you don't have the base talent AND drive eventually you will get found out.

Grosjean has a lot more potential and it's refreshing to see the team has not gone for the most money, preferring to gamble on the possible benefits if it can "unearth" a true French F1 superstar.

[Super Hans]

I don't think Bruno lacks talent, but I think his lack of experience may have cost him. He only started racing five or six years ago, and he's competing against people who've been doing it since they were in short trousers. Perhaps he'll never be able to make up for his lack of karting.

[strider]

The fact is that Bruno lost a decade, from 1994 to 2004, due to family opposition in the wake of Ayrton's death. Who knows how good he would be now were it not for that.

To say: "You can buy all of the advantages money can buy, several seasons all in the best, most expensive equipment with as much testing and practice as humanly possible but if you don't have the base talent AND drive eventually you will get found out" is very unfair and not based on fact in this case. The testing restrictions alone ensured that.

[Super Hans]

Yes, the recent generations of aspiring F1 drivers have been hamstrung by the testing ban. It doesn't matter how much dough you've got, you're not going to get a lot of F1 mileage until you're in a race seat. Vettel and Hamilton were probably the last of the 'prepared' F1 rookies.

[gttouring]

i agree that Senna/Gorsjean team up would be better.
Kimi may have stones, and talent but he needs to get his F1 groove back and replacing a driver like senna who did rather well is too bad.
Where is Petrov in all this- he raced pretty well

[OZ_HCR32]

Really? People think that Senna would be a surer bet then Kimi in 2012?

I have never been a huge Kimi fan but there is no denying that he is damn fast and very talented. His last year at Ferrari proved that he can drive a barge of a car and still get it in the top 10...which is something that Lotus will need for next year.

The are saying the tyres are going to be even softer next year but he will pick it up quickly enough..and i think the biggest hurdle will be the quality of the car...not the pace of their driving line up.

People right Grosjean's debut races off as a disaster. What I saw was a guy with no seat time get in and ran closer to Alonso then PK Jr has all reason with so many more race miles, car familiarisation etc.

I think he has shown class in every car he has driven, and walked in GP2 this year.

[Razzzor]

Well Grosjean and Petrov were pretty close when they were team mates in GP2. Grosjean a little quicker, but neither were leading the championship when Grosjean got the call up to Renault in 09, which imo was far too early.

And Petrov had already been owned by Di Grassi the previous year, despite Di Grassi missing 3 rounds. Grosjean meanwhile did pretty well in 2008, scoring 62 points to his 2 teammates 9 points combined.

2007 and Pantano owned Petrov in Gp2. Meanwhile Grosjean won the F3 Euroseries over Buemi and teammate Hulkenberg and Kobayashi that year. If those 3 deserve F1 seats, why not Grosjean?

Anyway, I'm glad he's got a seat, but I think Senna was just as deserving. Hopefully he can find a seat somewhere. Petrov proved he wasn't fast enough though, and it's no surprise.

[Bononi]

Well, congrats to Grosjean. Let's hope he doesn't turn out to be just another wannabe in the circus.

Actually I couldn't see anyone in special to fill in the place, though I have sympathy for Senna's efforts. Roll on, life moves on.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by OZ_HCR32

Really? People think that Senna would be a surer bet then Kimi in 2012?

I have never been a huge Kimi fan but there is no denying that he is damn fast and very talented. His last year at Ferrari proved that he can drive a barge of a car and still get it in the top 10...which is something that Lotus will need for next year.

Is?

Was.

Sometimes.

When he felt like it.

I personally think he has a great deal to prove. I hope he's brilliant, we need it - but I have definite doubts.

[chunterer]

Good appointment, I too would've preferred Romain and Bruno, nothing against Kimi but I think his days have been and gone, it's rare that a comeback works, unless of course you happen to have a McLaren MP4 or Williams FW15.

The Grosjean v Petrov GP2 stat posted by razzor is a bit misleading, Grosjean was by far the quicker but had had a bit of a rotten run results wise which put his title charge on the back foot and of course didn'r finish the season. There is absolutely no doubting who is the better driver of the two though.

Vitaly impressed me greatly in the last 2 years, mainly because I didn't think he was an F1 calibre driver. However he made little or no progress this year and i was perhaps his tehnical ability that was found wanting once Heidfeld was stupidly dropped. I also suspect he and his Manager may have got a bit chastened when Bruno arrived on the scene and immediately challenged him, thus putting the Russian ia very weak barganing position, that probably told Bouiller all he needed to know.

Grosjean is mega quick, no question and hopefully less accident prone now he has a second bit of the apple.

[p-matt]

I must admit, I'm surprised they chose Grosjean because that means they have two drivers that have not been racing in F1 for two years. That will definitely put them on the back foot at the start of the year.

Of the three drivers Renault have I think I would have stuck with Petrov. He's the only one that provides consistency within the team, and his pace wasn't that bad in the second half of the year. I do like Bruno a lot, but I'm surprised that so many are raving about his pace - yes he had some excellent quali results, however his race pace was very poor. He was fighting with Kovalainen far too many times this year. There's a place for him somewhere on the grid, but not in a top 5 team.

It's quite sad to see F1 fans on other forums and blogs writing off Grosjean on the basis of his half season in 2009. His Auto GP and GP2 campaigns definitely show a new maturity and speed from Romain.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by p-matt

I must admit, I'm surprised they chose Grosjean because that means they have two drivers that have not been racing in F1 for two years. That will definitely put them on the back foot at the start of the year.

Of the three drivers Renault have I think I would have stuck with Petrov. He's the only one that provides consistency within the team, and his pace wasn't that bad in the second half of the year. I do like Bruno a lot, but I'm surprised that so many are raving about his pace - yes he had some excellent quali results, however his race pace was very poor. He was fighting with Kovalainen far too many times this year. There's a place for him somewhere on the grid, but not in a top 5 team.

It's quite sad to see F1 fans on other forums and blogs writing off Grosjean on the basis of his half season in 2009. His Auto GP and GP2 campaigns definitely show a new maturity and speed from Romain.

Bruno's race pace v qualy pace is exactly what would've raised question marks to me too if I were a team boss, but then he had been out the car for a long time, so was he doing really well to do what he did?

Re Grosejan, I think that first race back in GP2 at Hockenheim in 2010 showed exactly what he is capable of. The drive ended in a bit of a red mist stryle tangle with Maldonado I think it was, but my god he was absolutely on it up until then.

Sinmce then he's kept the innate speed but removed the rashness I think.

[bella]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Re Grosejan, I think that first race back in GP2 at Hockenheim in 2010 showed exactly what he is capable of. The drive ended in a bit of a red mist stryle tangle with Maldonado I think it was, but my god he was absolutely on it up until then.

Sinmce then he's kept the innate speed but removed the rashness I think.

yeah, i think so too. i think it's a fault of the management of the guys who can afford the best drives all the way through their racing career - the drivers almost end up acting as if they're invincible. i'd put jules bianchi into that category at the moment. what he really needs is ferrari to dump him, let him flounder for a while, then someone to pick him up again. the guys who really are invincible are the ones like grosjean v2.0 and maybe robert wickens too - they've been dropped, cast aside, taken an active decision to keep pursuing the f1 dream, and worked hard for it. again.

i think grosjean now has a couple of good people around him too - remember when he was at renaultf1 he was effectively managed by briatore. since then he's been managed by boullier and gravity. he's also got an older girlfriend (the pitlane reporter for tf1) who seems to have had a similar stabilising influence that jenson button's entorage have on him. people might scoff at that as being an important piece of the jigsaw but off track stuff counts too (see: lewis hamilton).

[strider]

Originally Posted by bella

i think grosjean now has a couple of good people around him too - remember when he was at renaultf1 he was effectively managed by briatore. since then he's been managed by boullier and gravity. he's also got an older girlfriend (the pitlane reporter for tf1) who seems to have had a similar stabilising influence that jenson button's entorage have on him. people might scoff at that as being an important piece of the jigsaw but off track stuff counts too (see: lewis hamilton).

Renault had a weird press conference to announce Grosjean. They called it at 10 o'clock in the morning for 3 o'clock in the afternoon in Paris, so only ten or so people were there, including Grosjean's girlfriend, but I suppose she does count as media.