Romain Grosjean says he’s better prepared ahead of the start of his second full season of Formula One with Lotus.
Speaking at the launch of the team’s 2013 car Grosjean admitted he found his first year tougher than he expected:
“You start your career in Formula 1 thinking ‘Okay, that’s a new challenge, a tough challenge’ but then you work into the season and you think ‘Whoa! This challenge is even bigger than I thought!’
“All the elements of a Formula 1 season including the travelling – energy-wise, managing the jet lag – the media and marketing stuff, the physical demands and preparation for driving the car are quite something. I know what I need much better now and that’s what I’ve learned from last year.”
Asked how he’s changed since last season, Grosjean said: “Well first of all I’m older!
“No, it’s clearly different for me this year. I have much more experience in Formula 1 and even if I knew the team before, I now know how to work with the engineers much better on the technical side.
“I also know all the tracks and understand better the various challenges of a season. Generally things worked out pretty well, although some things didn’t always turn out as good as we wanted. It’s going to be very interesting to start the new season.”
Grosjean and team mate Kimi Raikkonen are starting their second season with the team and Grosjean believes that means the new car will suit them better:
“All through last year, the feedback given about the E20 was interpreted by the development team for the E21. This means there’s a lot of information from me and Kimi which went into this car.
“It’s difficult to say after the season ‘we would like this or that’ for next year. I think it’s more about the work done during the whole season; discussing this or that, or an idea about this or that. After twenty races you know more-or-less what has been good with the car and what hasn’t. Hopefully we’ve made the right calls for this year.”
See pictures of the new Lotus E21:
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Image © Lotus/LAT
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
28th January 2013, 22:01
Grosjean just needs to realise that there is more than one car on the track other than him! That was his real issue last season I think: he became fixated at the starts on one car and “forgot” to look out for the other cars, which is why he had apparently careless crashes such as in Belgium & Suzuka.
That wasn’t obviously a real issue during the race itself and he proved to be a very decent overtaker. He also clearly has speed so if he just improves his spacial awareness he can mature into a very good driver I’m sure. That is much easier said than done though…
Tyler (@tdog)
28th January 2013, 22:02
Fingers crossed, he seems like a nice guy and as @vettel1 said, he’s not lacking pace, he just needs to stop running into those around him.
Dj xo2 (@dj-xo2)
28th January 2013, 22:10
“It’s going to be very interesting to start the new season.” ….come on mate it’s just to easy, it’s always an “interesting” start with you
JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1)
28th January 2013, 22:17
Not sure what to make of this. He’s clearly a quick driver, but it wasn’t just this one year that this has happened. I remember reading comments which eluded to him doing this in other series as well. What would be nice, is to see Grosjean grow from last year and show more of his natural flare, which is obviously there. Whether that will happen though, is too difficult to tell until we see him start racing again.
robfff
28th January 2013, 22:49
His performances in GP2 were amazing. Once he finds his feet in F1 he will one of the best.
Dan Brown (@danbrown180)
29th January 2013, 11:13
Absolutely agree. Given the time, I think he could be a world champion.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
28th January 2013, 23:16
A huge deal has been made over his “lack-of-awareness” in the car, and for Belgium I’d say that’s accurate. His Suzuka incident looked more like he was being SO cautious that everyone who showed him a wheel he jumped out of the way.
But honestly, the boy’s got huge talent, and I think he can be future champion once he irons out all the “creases”.
Hairs (@hairs)
28th January 2013, 23:58
He says that every year. In 09 about his gp2 crashes, in 10 about his f1 results, in 11 about his vitally improved racing that didn’t carry over into last year, and now about last year’s disasters.
Very close to all mouth and no trousers at this stage.
JCost (@jcost)
29th January 2013, 13:38
If you ask me to pick two guys to drive for my team from a list with:
Maldonado
Perez
Grosjean
Di Resta
Hulkenberg
Senna
I’d pick: Hulkenberg and Grosjean
Dion (@infinitygc)
29th January 2013, 14:58
Same here, and I think that if the E21 proves to be a good car, Romain can very well score a win this year!
Fernando Cruz
30th January 2013, 17:13
I agree, Hulkenberg and Grosjean seem to be more complete than Maldonado and Perez, although in raw pace I think Maldonado beats them all. Senna, Di Resta and Kobayashi are behind, all three evenly matched…