Romain Grosjean says a season of frustration with his uncompetitive Lotus was behind his outburst on the radio during qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Grosjean, who has only finished in the points twice this year, furiously criticised his car’s Renault engine after it cut out during Q2.
“This season is difficult and of course part of that radio message was frustration from the beginning of the year,” said Grosjean during today’s press conference.
“When you are racing Singapore it is certainly one of the toughest tracks to race. [On a] qualifying lap you give a hundred and twenty percent of everything you can, you take every single risk to get close to the wall without kissing them too much, and in the straight line your engine cuts. So I wasn’t very happy with that, I think it was clear.
“But we found the issue with Renault, they solved it for the race and things were going better. I think it’s just a fact that hot, humid and trying to get a hundred percent of everything and suddenly get issues on the straight-line where it’s easy to not lose time.”
Grosjean, who fought the Red Bulls for victory in Japan last year, said he was still happy despite his trying season because “you wake up in the morning and you are still a Formula One driver”.
“It took me quite a long time to get to Formula One,” he said, “I lost it once at the end of 2009, and when I came back in 2012 I realised when you lose something you realise how much you like it”.
“Even though it’s a tough season I still have mechanics that give a hundred percent and I still love what I’m doing. Of course it’s much more fun to fight at the front and for victories but it’s still a very good job.”
2014 Singapore Grand Prix
- Frustrating year led to Singapore outburst – Grosjean
- Mercedes can clinch team’s title in Japan
- Hamilton beats Vergne to Driver of the Weekend
- Singapore GP falls short of high 2014 standard
- 2014 Singapore Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
Image © Lotus/LAT
Chris (@tophercheese21)
2nd October 2014, 8:18
I don’t blame him.
The car is an absolute dog.
Formula-I (@)
2nd October 2014, 8:41
He deserved more better, he was storming at second in 2013 and it sad see him in a very slow car.
Ps : is the car have a problem in the race?? Because Maldonado finish ahead of him (i say maldonado outperform him but someome said yesterday that he had a turbo problem) and this make me confuse
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
2nd October 2014, 8:51
What a waste of talent. As if Lotus and Williams decided to swap their WCC positions between 2013 and 2014 …
The renault engine, the financial shortcomings, all the brains who fled, Maldonado, … I hope Romain will have a better car or find a better seat next year.
bull mello (@bullmello)
2nd October 2014, 16:46
So many key people and talented team members jumped ship from Lotus and Grosjean had nowhere to go. In 2013 he was able to show more improvement than just about any driver in recent memory. He really is a very good driver with very little chance of improving his ride for 2015. It is difficult to fault him for being so brutally honest about one of the worst season to season downturns for a team we have seen in a while. Hard to go from challenging for wins to praying the car will make it around the track each and every lap. Hope his future gets better.
woogle
2nd October 2014, 22:22
ivcometo a conclusion it was his hair that made him crazy whenits short he’s class
Breno (@austus)
2nd October 2014, 22:10
Grosjean best chance might be to stay at Lotus. Maldonado’s money is bound to help, Maldonado will make him look much better, and the Mercedes engine will probably make the car look much better than it really is (I’m looking at you Mclaren). Not to mention next year Lotus’ designers will make an actually decent nose.
woogle
2nd October 2014, 22:14
poach him mclaren please poach him