Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsLotus F1

Grosjean poised for ‘emotional’ Lotus farewell

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Romain Grosjean admits his final race for Lotus at next weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be “emotional” after ten years with the team.

The Frenchman first joined as a young driver in 2005, going on to race for the team as Renault back in 2009 and then regaining his seat at the start of 2012. Grosjean will swap Lotus for the new Haas F1 Team next season but he told F1i he will find it hard to get out of the car for the final time after the last race of this season.

“It’s going to be an emotional one,” Grosjean said at the Race of Champions. “I think after the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi I’m going to realise that this was my last race with Enstone for now. It has been ten years of my life, all my F1 career, so it is a lot that we share together.

“I wish that someone buys the team, puts them back on their feet and moves forward. It would be great if it’s Renault and then who knows? I may come back one day and try to be world champion with a French team…”

And Grosjean says he has been watching the Renault takeover developments closely in the hope that a deal goes through for the good of the team.

“Yeah I do [follow the takeover] because I care about the people in Enstone and I care about Enstone. When people leave they say there is something in Enstone and now that I am ready to leave I realise that this is a unique place. The work we have done so far - celebrating a podium with bailiffs - it’s not every day that you do that!”

Asked if the dream scenario would be to repeat that podium in his final race for Lotus, Grosjean replied: “I’ll try.

“It may be a little bit more difficult for us but who knows? The target is to score points, secure sixth in the constructors’ championship, try to get back in the top ten of the drivers’ championship - even thought it will be difficult - and just have fun.”

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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.