Romain Grosjean claims GP2 crown

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Romain Grosjean, Spa-Francorchamps, 2011

Romain Grosjean has won the 2011 GP2 championship in today’s race at Spa-Francorchamps.

Grosjean, who is one of Renault’s third drivers, claimed the title by finishing in third place in the feature race. He has won the championship with three races still to run.

Grosjean started seventh in today’s feature race before working his way up to third early on.

But a lengthy interruption due to a crash involving Stefano Coletti and Mikhail Aleshin left just one lap to go when the race was restarted. Grosjean finished third behind winner Christian Vietoris and Jules Bianchi.

His title rivals Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde failed to finish.

Grosjean is the seventh GP2 champion and the first driver to win the title for DAMS.

He has been tipped to drive for Renault in some practice sessions before the end of the year. He previously drove for the team at the end of 2009.

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    45 comments on “Romain Grosjean claims GP2 crown”

    1. He is flying! Back to F1! ;)

      1. Maybe not after Senna’s successful qualifying of today?

        1. In place of Barrichello maybe?

          1. Rumours suggest van der Garde is in contact with Williams for a 2012 drive.

            1. The same rumours who talked about him going with Williams in 2011? Not giving very much credit to those. Barrichello ain’t going nowhere, deal with it.

            2. Doesn’t mean he can’t replace Pastor Maladjusto …

        2. I agree. Two races are too little to judge a driver, and even if Senna DNFs here and at Monza, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s not good enough. Senna should keep the seat for the rest of the season as a Heidfeld return seems unlikely, if he loses his charge, and Grosjean could drive in FP to prepare himself for 2012. Why put Senna in for two races to have him substituted by Grosjean? At that point Heidfeld could’ve done these two races and Grosjean could’ve taken a seat directly from Heidfeld.

        3. Could have a nice little battle on our hands. Still hoping Kubica comes back though.

          1. I really think they will give Kubica every opportunity to come back.

            Maybe we should have an article all about the Renault driver situation Keith. It seems they have too many drivers, all who could do a decent job in the car and they are playing musical chairs with them!

            I really liked how Eric Boullier handled the team when he came in after crash-gate, but he sure seems to have a rather self inflicted debacle on his hands now.

            Who to go with? Senna, Grosjean? Hold out hope for Kubica? Could Heidfeld return?

            The only driver with a secure seat in their organization seems to be Petrov.

    2. Really pleased for Grosjean! I still believe he was cast into a difficult car at a difficult time in F1, and has proven himself deserving of another shot more representative of his ability.

    3. Does anyone know if something has hppened to Coletti?

      1. Strangely, the commentators were calm. True, the crash didn’t look too nasty for him to suffer serious consequences, but the time the ambulance took to load him made me think if all was right with him, as he said on the radio he had problems breathing.
        Regarding his health, I found this:

        Stefano Coletti has been taken to hospital with back injuries following his crash in the first GP2 race of the weekend at Spa.
        The Trident driver had to be extricated from his car by doctors after he ran over the back of Mikhail Aleshin’s Carlin car shortly after a rain shower had hit the circuit.
        Coletti’s car went up in the air as it went over Aleshin’s rear wing, and the impact as he landed is suspected to have compressed some of the vertebrae in his back.
        If the Monegasque has suffered those injuries, he would not be the first in GP2. Jules Bianchi and Ho-Pin Tung suffered a similar fate with aerial accidents in 2010.
        Source

    4. Sam Bird is sexy :D

    5. Congratulations Romain. See you in F1 next year!

    6. And loses renault seat to senna.

      1. It all depends how deep Senna’s pockets are.

        1. With so many drivers paying for their seats these days that is a little hard on Senna. Even MSC had to pay for his Jordan opportunity, bringing sponsorship to a team has been part of F1 for so long as there has been sponsorship.

    7. Is there any coverage of the GP2 race anywhere?

      1. Eurosport is your best bet in the UK.

        1. Eurosport 2 tomorrow morning.

          Their coverage this year left plenty to be desired, the tennis was deemed more important for even delayed action.

    8. Brilliant news! Hopefully Fat John can get a decent drive next season! :)

      1. Fat John?

        No, it’s RRRMMMMNNNN GRRRJJJHNNNNN! You can actually pronounce his name without any vowels.

    9. Timo Glock-esque. F1, then Gp2 title, then F1 again! :)

      Hope he doesn’t end up at Virgin, tho!

      1. Or even worse, end up like Giorgio Pantano. F1, Gp2 title, obscurity.

    10. Hang on, started seventh? Interesting..Bruno is seventh..

    11. Cake!

    12. Well done Romain, he fully deserves it! Brilliant driver! But whether he gets into F1 or not is another matter. I hope he doesn’t become the next Pantano.

      1. Pantano won in GP2 at his fourth season there, 2008, after competing in F1 in 2004.
        Grosjean didn’t do worse than Petrov did last year in 2009, so he should get an F1 drive and not disappoint.

    13. Well done Romain

      but I have to admit most of that race was a farce

    14. Maybe a future line up of Senna and Grojean is on the cards?

      I must say it was great to see Senna do such a good job today!

      1. Could be an exciting lineup – anyone got any idea if Grosjean brings any sponsorship as that seems to play a big factor in current Renault driver decisions?

        1. I don’t know about sponsorship, but Boullier seems very keen on bringing in a French driver and Grosjean is the only realistic bet on doing that anytime soon.

          They are close and even though Renault is French in engine and name only, they seem keen on having a French presence in the team.

          It begs the question, why bring in Senna? Maybe they are hedging their bets- if Kubica cannot return I can see them running a Petrov, Grosjean team with Senna as the main reserve driver.

    15. Finally, eh? Only took four years. Sorry, but GP2 is full of mediocre “hotshots” this year. My grandmother could have been GP2 champion this year.

      1. I would love to see you in a race against those drivers. I’d bet my house you wouldn’t be saying that afterwards.

        1. Possibly, but that doesn’t change my opinion that four years in GP2 is too much. There needs to be a limit on how long a driver can compete in GP2, otherwise it’s just a case of a driver waiting till he or she is a racing against a field of rookies to take the title, which was the case for Maldonado and now Grosjean.

          Two years and then they should have to try their luck elsewhere.

          1. Fair enough I guess, but it wouldn’t really be fair for them to put a limit on how long they can stay in the series either.

          2. What about the teams? Surely they’re accountable for something? The drivers have to start somewhere just as they do with F1.

      2. In 2008 he did well for a rookie, with some race wins.
        In 2009 he was doing well, but was drafted into F1 mid-way through, losing the chance of that year’s title.
        In 2010 he had lost his Renault contract, and considered quitting motorsports, but later in the year he signed with them again and did some races at the end of the GP2 season with Renault’s sister team, DAMS.
        In 2011 he had a full-time contract with them and won greatly.

      3. GP2 is full of mediocre “hotshots” this year.

        Blame Formula 1. When Virgin, Hispania and Fernandes all entered in 2010, it created six new seats in Formula 1. Hulkenberg, Petrov, Kobayashi, Chandhok and di Grassi all got promoted. So there was a massive vaccuum at the front of the GP2 field. And after 2010, Maldonado, d’Ambrosio and Perez stepped up to Formula 1, further thinning out the talent pool. So it was always going to take a while to replenish what had been lost. Now that the 2012 driver market is fairly stable, I expect GP2 will start building up the talent pool again. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bottas, Calado and Melker all get drivers in GP2 based on their results, and maybe Haryanto, Pal Kiss and Evans based on their money and connections.

        But I think the pointy end of the GP2 grid will be pretty good next year – assuming they don’t get into Formula 1, I can see van der Garde, Bianchi, Pic, Bird and probably Vietoris (he was sidelined in the early season with a back injury). And maybe Filippi, Valsecchi and Gutierrez. They’re going to have to be, because there’s going to be a number of Formula 1 seats opening up in the near future as drivers retire – Webber, Button, Massa, Schumacher, Barrichello and Trulli. They won’t all go together, but it’s going to be a hard-fought battle for those seats.

      4. Can I adopt your grandmother? That must be one cool granny.

    16. Well done Romain. Hopefully this time he’ll be given a fair crack at F1 :-)

    17. Well done Grosjean, you do deserve another stab at F1.

      Pity you couldn’t have waited a couple of weeks so I could see you win it with my own eyes!

    18. If Renault want Grosjean in the car at some point this year, then I think they’ve made a mistake guaranteeing Senna a drive at Spa and at Monza. Grosjean might have the pedigree, but his last foray into Formula 1 usually resulted in a few on-track pirouettes. In order to give Grosjean the best opportunity to get back into Formula 1, he should be running at circuits he knows. And of the seven remaining circuits on the calendar, he’s only seen two of them – Monza and Abu Dhabi. But because Senna will be in the car in Italy, that means Grosjean’s best chance will come in time for Abu Dhabi. Of course, if Robert Kubica can make a return by the end of the year, that might dispel Grosjean’s chances of running on any circuit that he knows.

      If Renault were deadly serious about Grosjean driving, I would have kept Nick Heidfeld for Spa. Then I’d put Grosjean in the car for Monza, Singapore and Suzuka. And then I’d hand it over to Senna for South Korea, Buddh and Abu Dhabi; if the pace he displayed in qualifying is legitimate, then there is no reason why he could not demonstrate it elsewhere. That would also leave Brazil open for Kubica’s return. If Kubica could not make it, then I’d put the better-performing driver (Senna or Grosjean) in for Brazil as a reward.

    19. I think if Senna or Petrov don’t shine in the next two race of more then they should or will replace someone & put Romain there.

      1. I doubt it. One or two races isn’t enough to judge a new driver on. And if that’s the case, then you certainly can’t judge a second driver’s performance relative to the newcomer in the same amount of time. Renault need stability; they’ll probably keep Petrov and keep an eye on Senna.

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