Former Lotus Team Principal Believes Romain Grosjean is “Good Enough” to Win a Race in F1

The time has almost arrived for Romain Grosjean to leave Haas, a team that has backed him since 2016. Although it is highly unlikely that the Frenchman will find a drive in F1 beyond 2020, Eric Boullier opined that the former Lotus F1 driver is still “good enough” to win a race in the sport.

During a podcast, Eric, ex-Team Principal to the Lotus F1 team, was asked whether Grosjean is good enough to win a race. “Yeah, yeah, he is good enough,” Eric told F1’s Beyond the Grid.

Grosjean has faced a lot of flak over the course of the last few seasons in F1. The primary reason being that he has caused a number of silly incidents that eventually cost him and a few others around him a lot of points.

But when looking at his career as a whole in Formula 1, he has performed well enough. Grosjean was also at his peak during the 2013 season, where he scored 6 out of the 10 podiums in that season alone. Eric spoke about one specific race in 2013 where Grosjean could have won the race.

Romain Grosjean almost won a race in the 2013 season: Eric Boullier

Eric revealed that Grosjean had an incredible chance of securing the first win of his career at the German Grand Prix in 2013. “He would have actually [won] in Nurburgring ’12 or ’13, I don’t remember,” he said.

Grosjean was leading the race until Lap 13, after resisting to pit while the others around him did. But a safety car turned things around for the Frenchman.

“I remember a Marussia care broke down, starting to reverse back. And when you see a car reversing back, it’s gonna be a safety car. Safely car gave Red Bull gave the opportunity to change their tires and we lost it,” Eric said.

Eventually, Grosjean ended up P5 in the race, and it has remained the only occasion where Grosjean had an opportunity to win a race, though he still had some faint chances while he was at Lotus.

But his dream of winning a race faded away when he moved to Haas F1 in 2016. And as years progressed, he even kept falling further back on the grid. And Haas eventually chose to leave their trusted driver out of their team beyond 2020.

Now, as the curtain falls over this season in December, Grosjean will most likely be signing off from Formula 1 after what has been an impressive career for the Frenchman.

So, the question is, will Grosjean manage to continue his career in Motorsport racing through Formula-E or Le Mans or will he retire from the sport? Only time will tell.