Grosjean to partner Kimi
Romain Grosjean has been chosen to race alongside the 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen at the Lotus team next season. The deal sees the Frenchman replace Vitaly Petrov in the second seat, largely thanks to pressure from team sponsor Total, who have wanted a French driver in the team for a while.
Grosjean, who won the GP2 championship in 2011, is no stranger to the Enstone-based team: he drove for the team (then known as Renault) in the fallout from the race-fixing scandal in 2009, replacing Nelson Piquet Jnr for six races.
Romain Grosjean:
“I am thrilled to be one of the team’s race drivers in 2012. There’s a big grin on my face at the prospect of getting behind the wheel of next year’s car, and I feel very privileged to be given this opportunity. To be racing alongside a former world champion and someone who is hungry and returning to Formula 1 will be a great experience, and I’m sure will help raise my level of performance too. I feel that my successful season in GP2 Series has helped me mature a lot, and I am a much more complete driver than I was last time I was competing in this sport. Returning to Enstone as a race driver feels like coming home. I will not disappoint and I wish to thank all the people without whom this return to F1 would not have been possible. Total, which supports me since 2006, and Gravity Sport Management, are first on this list.”
Eric Boullier, Team Principal & MD:
“I’m delighted that Romain Grosjean will side Kimi next year. Romain has shown a lot of maturity in the past twelve months both through his GP2 Series victory and his development as third driver with us. We were impressed when he drove for us in the first practice sessions in Abu Dhabi and Brazil. We are confident that drafting him in to one of our driver’s seats will help us in our rebuilding process. I would like to thank Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna for their contribution to the team’s performance this year and I wish them all the best for the future.”
Gérard Lopez, Genii Capital, Chairman:
“Only last week I reiterated that the team is at the start of a brand new cycle. Announcing Romain as our race driver alongside Kimi is great news and will help us achieve our aims of getting back to the very top. The announcements we made today and last week are exciting ones for our team and there is a real buzz surrounding us now.”
The announcement leaves Vitaly Petrov and the talented Bruno Senna without a seat for 2012.
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Picture Credits: Hoch Zwei
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