Romain Grosjean says he wants to remind people what he and Lotus are capable of in 2015.
Grosjean ended 2013 with a string of top-four finishes but endured a season to forget last year with Lotus’s troublesome E22. The team has switched to Mercedes power over the winter and expects to be much more competitive this year.
“This season will be very much about reminding people how good Lotus F1 Team and Romain Grosjean can be,” he said.
“People have very short memories in Formula One and it’s true we had a tough fight for results in 2014 so some people have forgotten the performance we showed in 2013 and 2012.”
Lotus missed the first day of testing with their new car but while Grosjean admits they are still behind, he believes they are in a much better position than they were 12 months ago.
“This time last year we were nowhere,” he said, “so this year is particularly positive.”
“For sure, we still have work to do and our car’s not perfect, but we have a great platform from which to build and I’m sure we’ll have lots of good developments to come with the E23.”
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BJ (@beejis60)
6th March 2015, 17:17
And I hope it works out for them. 2014 was definitely a year to forget.
Dan Brown (@danbrown180)
6th March 2015, 17:19
F1 drivers say “For sure” all the time.
Dan Brown (@danbrown180)
6th March 2015, 17:21
https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=E-L5VIPMD8GN7Aa0rYDgCw&gws_rd=ssl#q=site:f1fanatic.co.uk+%22for+sure%22
Jethro (@jethro)
6th March 2015, 17:26
Too true @danbrown180, although I was disappointed not to strike off a “massive step forward” from my driver press statement bingo card.
JL
6th March 2015, 20:01
What else is on the bingo card? I wanna play haha
stefano (@alfa145)
6th March 2015, 18:26
@danbrown180 are you the dan brown from youtube, pogobat?
Mog
6th March 2015, 19:48
For sure! :)
Dan Brown (@danbrown180)
9th March 2015, 11:47
@alfa145 No not me, although there are a lot of us Dan Brown’s around
BJ (@beejis60)
6th March 2015, 18:50
“obviously”
greg-c (@greg-c)
6th March 2015, 21:34
Maximum
JC Case (@jccase)
6th March 2015, 22:09
I think that starting a sentence with “I think” is obviously a bit ominous these days, for sure. :P
Polo (@polo)
7th March 2015, 15:39
Obviously, today we made a massive step forward and for sure we will be on maximum attack for the races ahead.
Nkoli
6th March 2015, 18:34
Romain is a dreamer and he is entitled for his opinions but the thing is, its going to be damn tough to prove anything this year. If you look back in 2012, 2013 they had a bunch of good guys in technical side which were some how special.I believe the replacements tech guys are not as good or maybe they need time to be in 2012/2013 level. So with that, I believe they need another year to get more experience.
Spawinte (@spawinte)
6th March 2015, 18:36
So that would be not winning any races , being beaten by your race winning team mate and getting a few podiums while occasionally causing a dangerous accident.
Alistair
6th March 2015, 18:57
Grosjean was genuinely impressive in 2013.
DCcomics
6th March 2015, 21:41
You’re right. I think it’s Pretty obvious some people don’t really watch races; or maybe they just choose to ignore a particular driver’s traits on purpose.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
6th March 2015, 20:35
@spawinte
Or splitting the Red Bulls in Austin 2013 when the nearest non-Newey car finished over 25 seconds behind.
Or fighting with Vettel and Webber for the win at Suzuka 2013 where the nearest non-Newey car (including his own teammate) finished over 45 seconds behind.
Or starting 17th yet finishing on the podium in India.
greg-c (@greg-c)
6th March 2015, 21:37
I liked Permain politely asking ” Kimi , Romain is faster than you mate , would you mind letting him by so as to give us a shot at more points , oh , and not now in the fast corners , just whenever it suits mate , good lad, thank you “
hzh (@hzh00)
6th March 2015, 18:42
Well, at least scoring points consistently will be an achievement, which will be easy in my opinion, given the switch to Mercedes power.
Gabbe
6th March 2015, 19:46
Well considering they where racing even with Caterham last season a swap to Mercedes wont sling shot them into glory just like that. Especially since the Ferrari engine seems pretty hot this season.
Nkoli
7th March 2015, 0:04
From what I recalled, it wasn’t as easy for McLaren to score on every grandprix with Merc motor attached to them either. It also could be tough for Lotus even though they have Merc motor attached to them. But I hope they do better this year so we don’t loose another team.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
6th March 2015, 19:39
Time to see him at the front!
MarkM
6th March 2015, 23:23
honestly, I was a huge hater of Grosjean in 2012, I rated him at about the same as Maldonado, trust me, that’s an insult. And I thought he was done in F1 and no one would waist their time with him due to some of the horrendous crashes he caused. Some could argue he was the cause of Alonso losing the 2012 championship due to that crash at spa but that’s another topic.
As for now, I really gained a lot of respect for Grosjean, I think he is rejuvenated and deserves the respect for the way he has been able to grow and change from the disaster he was in 2012. He proved in 2013 that he belonged in F1 with some spectacular performances and truly shined when the opportunity arose.
So I really hope 2015 is a much better year for him as no one can argue the dog of a car he had in 2014 has really made him invisible in F1 last year. It as arguable the worst car out there last year. I really think he’s ready for a top team drive and can win a championship.
good luck Grosjean!
TheBullWhipper (@thebullwhipper)
7th March 2015, 14:33
@MarkM I hold exactly the same view on RG he was really on a role from mid-season 2013, I really felt for the guy last year, the car wasn’t great and PU was even worse. Hope to see some good moves from him this season (overtake on Massa COTA I think it was, I know it was disallowed but hey great move)
Baron (@baron)
7th March 2015, 15:11
“Hope to see some good moves from him this season (overtake on Massa COTA I think it was, I know it was disallowed but hey great move)”
Was that like, er, offside then?
Rigi (@rigi)
7th March 2015, 23:07
@thebullwhipper the overtake you mean was at the hungaroring, turn 4. and i agree with you, the move was awesome, even massa said so.
kpcart
7th March 2015, 12:02
the way i read Lotus, they need a great driver like Alonso or Kubica to push them forward (like those 2 drivers did when the team was called Renault). i think Grosjean had a good season a couple years back, but it was against a has-been raikonnen, and their cars performance was mainly down to their good tyre wear. i only consider grosjean a midfield driver (as i do Raikonnen now too). i think Maldonado is a faster driver though inconsistent.