F1 Fanatic

Okay, crazy wonderings time: will Romain Grosjean stay at Lotus in 2013?

He only has a one-year deal with Lotus at the moment, and he is managed by Eric Boullier, who is also the team principal. Slam dunk, right?

Maybe not, because here’s the kicker: Boullier was a part of a “task force” designed to get the French Grand Prix back on the calendar. That task force decided that the easiest way to do that was to make Formula 1 relevant to the French public again. And the easiest way to do that was to get a successful French driver in the sport. France is currently spoiled for choice with three French drivers at the moment, but based on their current performances, Romain Grosjean is probably the only one who will still be with us in 2013.

So Eric Boullier is slightly conflicted here (which is why having team principals fill the role of driver managers is never a good idea). On the one hand, he needs the two best drivers for Lotus next year, and given their current performances, he’d be hard-pressed to pick anyone over Raikkonen and Grosjean. But on the other hand, he wants his French driver to do well to put Formula 1 back in the French consciousness. Lotus is certainly very well-equipped to give Grosjean the machinery he needs to succeed, but they’re taking a very long time to do it. People were expecting Lotus to win a race as early as the Bahrain Grand Prix in April. It’s now July, and they haven’t done it yet.

So if an opening were to becoe available at a top team – probably McLaren; I can’t see Grosjean going to Red Bull because it’s built around Vettel and that would defeat the purpose of sending him there; nor can I see Ferrari taking him on because this is only Grosjean’s first full season and Luca has already said that Ferrari won’t take Perez – which way should Boullier push Grosjean? Keep him in Lotus F1 where he knwos the team, or push him towards a bigger and better drive?

For what it’s worth, I think Grosjean will probably stay at Lotus. If anybody is going to leave the team, it’s Kimi Raikkonen. But it makes for interesting musings late on a Friday nght …

Do you really think a French GP is more important to Boulier than winning races and championships?
Look what happened last year – the team started out well enough, but slipped down the order quickly. Granted, they’re doing a much better job of it here (one good result will see them second in the WCC), but if they run out of money mid-season (and we’ve seen it before) or the team get frustrated at their inability to convertqualifying position into race wins, Boullier may decide to act in Grosjean’s intersts rather than the team’s.

I can see where @prisoner-monkeys is coming from, but I don’t think Lotus are a million miles away from where they want to be. They have a strong, drivable car which works on most circuits, and both Kimi and Grosjean could have won a race this year (Kimi in Bahrain, Grosjean in Valencia had the alternator not failed).

So Grosjean’s choice is between a team he knows and which could win a championship in the foreseeable future, or a team which struggles to win championships despite having two of the best drivers in the sport. Moreover, given that Boullier will want the best for his team, probably above the French GP, he’ll want the best drivers. On the basis that Robert Kubica sadly won’t be available next year, Kimi and Romain is probably the best they’re going to get (not that they’re bad in any way).

In short, I don’t see Grosjean going anywhere, but it’s an interesting theory.

What would be more interesting to me, is using Webber as a common barometer for Alonso vs Vettel. What if (crazy wonderings, a la PM) Webber beats the !#%@ out of Alonso, and their record is similar to how Alonso is manhandling Massa at the moment? Brings up an interesting question doesn’t it? I don’t think it’ll happen, but I think it’ll be closer – a lot closer – than people expect.

Both have a very similar driving style, and driving requirements, which would be quite the boon for the Ferrari tech team. They both like to throw the car into corners slightly, and set up for a stable car in order to facilitate this (if they didn’t, the car would spin out every time they threw steering on).

It would be VERY interesting to see. Both are good at Barcelona and Monaco too.

How do you mean, free rein to chase Alonso? Or are you again insinuating that Webber is being held back by Red Bull to NOT chase Alonso down in the points?

Red Bull really doesn’t have a suitable replacement for Webber should he leave next season, so I would imagine that they would make it very difficult for him to leave. Also he knows far too much about the performance secrets of the Red Bull car. Webber might want to go to Ferrari next year, I certainly want him to and it will be a great way to finish his career, but Red Bull will make it difficult for him. Maybe they’ll offer him an irrefusable amount of cash or perhaps push him off his mountain bike causing injury that forces him into retirement.

You know, come to think about it – I can’t help but think that Red Bull are probably favoring Vettel for the reason that Webber is on a single-year rolling contract. I suspect it could mean that Webber has very little information about the car for next season, and probably has meant that since he first started this rolling contract business.

Hard to say. Webber was ahead of Vettel with 2 races to go post-Korea 2010. However I think a large part of that decision in 2010 was that Webber had lost form for quite some time, getting outraced and outqualified by Vettel since the Monza race.