After weeks of uncertainly surrounding the future of Romain Grosjean, the Lotus F1 Team will field an unchanged line-up in 2015 after the Frenchman was finally confirmed to remain at the team alongside the already re-signed Pastor Maldonado.
Grosjean has spent his entire career with the Enstone, having originally joined the team in 2009 when the team were known as Renault, before re-joining the team ahead of the 2012 season under their current Lotus guise.
Despite the 2014 E22 being a troublesome machine, with Grosjean only scoring eight points all year for two eighth-place finishes in the Spanish and Monaco Grand Prix in May, the twenty-eight year old did not want to leave the team on such a low, after being linked with a move to the McLaren team earlier in the season.
“We’ve been waiting to announce it for a while now so it’s really good to finally confirm that I will be staying with the team next season,” said Grosjean. “I think we make a great combination.
“We’ve been working together for a long time now and I certainly didn’t want to leave on a performance low like we’ve seen in 2014 as we’ve enjoyed some beautiful moments together.
“It would have just felt wrong to say goodbye in a tough patch like we have had in 2014, because I know what everyone at Enstone is capable of. It’s no secret that we’ve had a really tough season this year, but the team has remained focused and we’re all determined to return to regular points scoring in 2015.
“Moments like this can either make you stronger or destroy you and I’m sure that the team is only going to learn from what has been a hard year.
“I have been spending a lot of time recently at Enstone and I’m feeling very positive about the potential of the E23, which should represent a return to form for the team. We have one race left in 2014 so I’ll be pushing to do the best job possible in Abu Dhabi before my focus switches fully to 2015.”
Lotus Team Principal Gerard Lopez was delighted to have re-signed Grosjean for another season, and praised the Frenchman highly after the struggles he has had this year with the E22.
“It is with great pleasure that we can formally confirm that Romain Grosjean will continue with Lotus F1 Team alongside Pastor Maldonado next season,” said Lopez. “You really learn something about a driver when they have the chips against them and Romain has delivered impeccably in 2014 despite the very big challenges he has faced.
“We know that Romain will always get the most out of the car at his disposal, which is why we can’t wait to harness his potential with Mercedes-Benz power in 2015.”
