Romain Grosjean insists he still has eyes on becoming Formula 1 world champion one day and has revealed the team he claims it would be “lovely” to achieve it with.
The Frenchman has come a long way in recent years since being described as a “first lap nutcase” by Mark Webber in 2012 and is now considered one of the most highly-rated drivers yet to get a chance at the very top in F1.
The closest he came was with Lotus in 2013 as they ended that particular season as the second best team behind the dominant Red Bulls and Grosjean would score four podiums in the final six races.
But those results would still only see him finish seventh in the overall standings and the former GP2 champion admits not meeting his potential in F1 continues to fuel him.
“Yes, I want to be world champion,” he stated in an interview with the official F1 website. “That is why I am racing and that is why I’m getting frustrated.
“If I cannot fight high enough at the front I get frustrated because I love winning. To think that my last win [in GP2] was in 2011 – that is six years ago. That really hurts. But since then I’ve never had the car to win.”
It has long been considered that Grosjean made the decision to join his current team Haas with the aim of eyeing an eventual seat at Ferrari, however, that prospect is now looking highly unlikely with several other names being linked to the Scuderia.
Recently, he was confirmed as remaining with the American team for a third year in 2018, a reality he is happy to accept.
“Haas is doing well and I want to help it grow bigger,” he said. “Right now I am part of a great project. I am very proud of what we have done together and we want to become better, of course.”
But in that same interview, the 31-year-old was asked if he still had thoughts of rejoining the team that gave him his initial start in F1 back in 2009, Renault.
“Going back to Renault one day would be lovely,” he commented. “But it should be the time when we really could be world champions together.
“That would be a superb situation, but right now it is a bit premature and I haven’t talked with Renault.”
Currently, the big driver story at the Enstone outfit is their ongoing evaluation of Robert Kubica to determine whether the much-loved Pole could make what would be a highly-anticipated comeback in 2018 alongside another driver most agree has underachieved in his F1 career, Nico Hulkenberg.
