Romain Grosjean in Rotterdam
At City Racing in Rotterdam, we caught up with Lotus's Romain Grosjean.
Q: You saw the crowd during the drivers parade, what do you think of it!
Romain Grosjean: It's good, it's always good to have Formula One cars in the centre of the city and get very close to the fans. I'm happy to be here, I got the invitation and I wanted to come. It's a good way to spend a Sunday!
Q: Judging by the number of people here, do you think it'd be a good idea to bring F1 back to The Netherlands?
RG: I'd love to, it's not far from my house! I know the most famous circuit is Zandvoort and although I love it, it's probably a bit dangerous for Formula One.
Q: Getting back to this season, you had a mixed first half; what are you hoping for in the second half of the year?
RG: We will fight to score more podiums and trying to get a win or a few wins. The first part has been pretty good as we scored three podiums. I'm still learning a lot about Formula One but now we can move ahead and improve ourselves.
Q: Do you think the upgrades will help?
RG: They should help us, but you always know what is on your car and you never know what the other [teams] are bringing. The whole team is working hard and doing their best to give us the best upgrade they can and the next track should suit us well and give us the results.
Q: Your first podium, best fastest lap, second in Montreal. Did you expect this, less, more...
RG: It's always difficult to know how good the car is going to be. In the first qualifying in Melbourne, I was third on the grid. I thought 'okay, the car is good, we can have an interesting season'. From there we always fight to get the best; for sure at the start of the season I was not thinking about podiums and now we are thinking about wins. When you get something, you always think about more and I think this is the same for every sportsman.
Q: It's Spa next weekend. Your first race there [in 2009] you qualified 19th and crashed out on the first lap. What are your hopes this year?
RG: We start the weekend thinking like always; doing the best we can. We will set-up the car the best we can for qualifying and then hopefully have a good performance in the race. If I was not going there thinking about the win I would be lying, but I'm not only focused on the win, I want to take as many points as we can and try and get the best of everything!
Q: In the championship it's very close; you, Nico and Jenson within two points. Is it going to be harder or easier from now?
RG: I'm not thinking too much about that, I'm thinking more about scoring points for the team and improving myself. If I can score podiums and wins then hopefully I will be in front of them.
Q: You came in as a driver in 2009 but then you were out for two years. Did you think you were not ready for F1 during those years out?
RG: No, I never think I'm not good enough. I learnt a lot but I didn't change from what I was. It was the worst of time but it was also a good time as I learnt a lot and I came back to Formula One much more ready than I was in 2009, in a very good team. The first time was not exactly the ideal scenario and here I am today and I hope I can stay for a while.
