Grosjean announces that he is Renault's third driver

Romain Grosjean will be Renault's third driver in 2011. French sources say the appointment comes despite Proton-linked Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy recently signing as reserve driver for the Lotus-backed team.

Grosjean, 24, made his racing debut in 2009 again with Renault after Piquet's dismissal, but the team did not confirm him last season.
He will then return to racing full-time in GP2: "In 2011 I will return to have a space as third driver at Lotus-Renault, and I will contest the entire GP2 and GP2 Asia championships with the DAMS team", announced the Frenchman of Swiss origin.
“Being the third driver allows me to gain enormous experience, to stay in the paddock, see important people and understand what I missed in my first experience in Formula 1. Now my plan is to return to the start of a GP in 2012. ”
The news states that Grosjean will run if starters Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov are unavailable.
Regarding his experience in F1 he commented: “In motorsport you always have to be in the right place at the right time. When I arrived at Renault it was certainly not the case for me. As far as performances are concerned, I have never been ashamed of what I managed to do, if I compare it to my teammate Alonso. It's true that we were distant on the grid, but when you're only 2-3 tenths behind him both in qualifying and in the race... you certainly can't complain", he concluded.

Filippo Ronchetti