Lotus has “a pretty good idea” of who will replace Romain Grosjean in 2016, according to deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi.

Grosjean announced in September he will be leaving Lotus to join the new Haas F1 Team in 2016, with Gastaldi telling F1i the decision had caught the team by surprise. Now four weeks after Lotus learned of Grosjean’s departure, Gastaldi says it is closing in on his replacement.

“The remorseless passing of time means that you always get closer to something in the future, so yes, we are closer to making an announcement,” Gastaldi said. “I would say something will come sooner rather than later.

“We won’t be disclosing who it is before we announce it, but we certainly have been speaking to drivers with good provenance and we have a pretty good idea who we will have in the car.”

Gastaldi has previously named third driver Jolyon Palmer as a strong candidate for the seat, while F1i understands Kevin Magnussen has also been in discussions over the vacancy.

Palmer will drive for Lotus in all of the remaining FP1 sessions this season following Grosjean’s decision to leave.