Grosjean hints at possible future return to Renault

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Romain Grosjean's tenure at Haas F1 might have started on a high with sixth place in the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, but it's been a hard slog since then.

Troubles with reliability and brakes have been particular bug bears for Grosjean, who is currently in 13th place in this year's drivers championship. It's a long way from his ultimate dream of being world champion.

"Yes, I want to be world champion," he admitted. "That is why I am racing. And that is why I’m getting frustrated.

"If I cannot fight high enough at the front I get frustrated, because I love winning," he told the official Formula 1 website before the summer shutdown.

"To think that my last win [in GP2] was in 2011 – that is six years ago. That really hurts. But since then I’ve never had the car to win."

The reality of Haas being the youngest team on the grid with some way to go until it's truly competitive is beginning to sink in. Does that mean Grosjean is starting to eye alternative routes to the title?

Haas still working on reaching brake consensus

"Well, yes," he said when asked if he would consider a change of teams. "If one day there is the chance to be world champion, then great. When the stars align and you get the chance to drive the car that you want to drive."

Grosjean pointed to the sudden elevation of Valtteri Bottas from Williams to Mercedes over the winter as an example.

"Life can be full of surprises. Take Valtteri and how his fate changed from the 1st to the 7th of December last year. Things like that do happen."

Grosjean even went as far as hinting that he wouldn't rule out a return to his old team Renault if that got him where he wanted go go.

"Going back to Renault one day would be lovely," he said. "But it should be the time when we really could be world champions together.

"That would be a superb situation, but right now it is a bit premature," he added. "I haven’t talked with Renault.

"But [Haas] is doing well and I want to help it grow bigger," he continued. "Right now I am part of a great project.

"I am very proud of what we have done together. And we want to become better, of course," he insisted.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.