Yesterday in an interview with ESPN F1, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean has stated that he is in no hurry to decide his future despite Lotus wanting him to commit to the team.
With Pastor Maldonado already confirmed for next season, Lotus have expressed a desire to hold onto both drivers. But while Lotus are ready to commit to the Frenchman, he is still looking at what other drives may be available for next year.
In his interview with ESPN F1 yesterday, Grosjean has stated that he will take the time to explore his options for as long as they remain “open” and he has said that staying at Lotus cannot be discounted. Grosjean said the following:-
‘As long as options are open!” They [Lotus] don’t really have to convince me, I know what they are capable of doing. I know they have made good cars in the past and I know the struggle we have now since we are in the process of understanding what is not working very well between the wind-tunnel and the car and where we can improve.’
It would be stupid of Grosjean not to look at all the options available to him for the 2015 season. Grosjean has shown that he is a potential talent of the future and he will have to make a calculated risk that he feels will benefit his future in the sport in the long term.
There is no question that many teams such as McLaren have expressed that they are looking into every viable option regarding their driver line up for next year. And it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if Grosjean seriously considered if approached by McLaren the offer of driving for the team and rightly so.
It would appear from what Grosjean has said if he stayed at Lotus for next season he would be happy to even though the team have struggled this season. Over the past few seasons, Lotus has provided him with a competitive car and he has managed to fight for podium finishes which demonstrates that they can deliver on the track.
But they are still motivated and working hard to improve as much as possible for the remainder of the season. And Lotus has to in order to try and salvage something from this season and use the data from this year to prepare for 2015.
Further on in his interview, Grosjean has stated that the Lotus team are still more than capable of delivering a competitive car and haven’t lost the ability to race at the front of the grid despite their performances this year. Grosjean added the following:-
‘I know they are capable of making a good car if they have a budget they can work with that and if they get a good engine, which I believe, hopefully, they will. From there you can assess what they are capable of doing.
‘I know the team is not going to do a season like this year next year because they will react and get better. Even though it’s not going to be as good a car as last year it’s hopefully going to be a car capable of fighting for points much more often, it can still be a good team.’
As Grosjean has stated, even though Lotus have not performed to the level that we all expected of them, they are still capable of making a good car. However, with the team’s current cash flow problems, this will certainly impact on what the team can spend on trying to bring improvements to the track throughout the course of the season.
It would seem that Grosjean is fairly confident that Lotus are in the process of learning their lessons from this year and will not repeat the same mistakes again. Grosjean’s comment poses the question has Lotus started preparing for the 2015 season already either with a Renault engine or a Mercedes engine as it has been suggested recently? That could very well be the case and I don’t think many would argue with their logic either.
But what is clear is that if Grosjean stays with Lotus for 2015, they have to ensure that they provide him with a car that is more competitive than this year and give Grosjean the chance to show just how talented he is. But if Grosjean is unsure in the back of his mind that Lotus cannot deliver what he needs from them, then he may have to take a calculated risk and gamble and move to another team that will provide him with the car that he and his talent deserves.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Grosjean stayed at Lotus next season and it wouldn’t surprise me if Grosjean decided to gamble and if the speculation is true, join a team like McLaren in 2015, which could provide him with the best chance to win a Grand Prix or a Championship. I am sure that Grosjean will make the best decision for his career and we all hope and pray that it is the right one. But as with any major decisions you make in life, nothing is guaranteed and certainly not in Formula One.
Question on everyone’s lips is; will Grosjean stay with Lotus or will he decide to leave Lotus and take on a new challenge with another team for 2015? We will have to wait and see what he will decide in the next few weeks.
