18 Dec 2012

Grosjean staying at Lotus

12:11 pm on 18 December 2012

French Formula One driver Romain Grosjean will stay at Lotus next season alongside Kimi Raikkonen.

The 26-year-old Swiss-born pilot, who made his debut in Formula One in 2009, finished a respectable eighth in last season's championship with a total of 96 points.

He finished in the top three three times but also featured in several crashes.

The most notable and perhaps costly one was at the beginning of the Belgian Grand Prix which claimed among its victims Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who was to go on and finish second in the world title race, just three points behind Sebastian Vettel.

Grosjean's recklessness in that collision resulted in a one-race suspension - however, he was to go on and take Australian Mark Webber out of the Japanese Grand Prix at the start, though this time he escaped censure.

His future had been in some doubt since he crashed out on the sixth lap of the season-ending Brazil Grand Prix, though, overall Lotus could look back on a successful season as they finished fourth overall in the constructors championships with 303 points.

Lotus finished the 2012 season as the fourth-placed team overall, with Grosjean taking three podium placings and ending the championship eighth overall.

Raikkonen, the 2007 champion with Ferrari, was third.