Ahead of the big F1 season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this Sunday, Sport360 spoke to Romain Grosjean about Lotus' new Mercedes engine and where he may be driving next year.
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What is it like to race in Abu Dhabi? Are there any unique challenges?
The race in Abu Dhabi is in the evening and means you have to prepare accordingly. At the beginning of the race the sun requires a darker visor and the finish is at night-time, when we will need a clear one in order to see where we are going.
Lotus has had a difficult year in 2014, why has the car struggled so much on the track?
There are a few issues such as a delay in the building of the car and the new regulations. Of course we could blame our showing on our much smaller budget compared to the bigger teams but at the end of the day we just had to do the best we could in 2014. We are getting a new engine for the 2015 season and clearly there are some exciting times to come.
How will the Mercedes engine increase the performance of the car?
We had a great engine this year but clearly Mercedes are doing something different this season. But we still have to go out there and drive the cars so it doesn’t make us automatic winners. But now we have no excuses and it will be very interesting to see what the level of improvement is in 2015.
You’re speaking very positively about the 2015 Lotus – but will you also be driving it?
I don’t want to leave Lotus without success and I think that next year there will be a huge improvement for the team. If I stay, I am happy to stay as I think we can probably taste champagne again!
Romain Grosjean was speaking at the launch of the Renault Captur in Dubai.