Alpine F1

Some drivers arrive in Formula One seemingly predestined for success and almost immediately live up to that hype. In recent years, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel fit that mold.

Others clearly have the talent to be in F1, but their career arcs are more gradual climbs. Jenson Button, for example, took his first win in his seventh season and the world championship in his 10th.

Romain Grosjean, who finished a brilliant third for Lotus in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, has always had the speed and talent. He was a champion in Formula Three and GP2 and scored three podium finishes in 2012, his first full F1 season (a detail often omitted amidst talk of his many first lap errors that year).

The Frenchman does not, however, have the results yet to match his potential.

In 2013, Grosjean struggled to match his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen's results early in the year, but he took four podiums in the final six races. Meanwhile, Raikkonen bolted the team for a second chance with Ferrari.

Everything seemed set for Grosjean to take over as team leader in 2014 and perhaps even break through to score his first victory (Raikkonen had one in each of the previous two years). Instead, Renault struggled to produce a competitive, reliable engine under the new hybrid V6 regulations, and Lotus were relegated to the back of the pack—and Grosjean to the back of everyone's minds.

The team switched to Mercedes engines for 2015, and the future suddenly brightened again.

Although Lotus have been better this season—even before Grosjean's Belgian podium, they had already scored 35 points, compared to 10 all last year—financial problems have held back the development of the car.

In Belgium, trackside operations director Alan Permane told Sky Sports F1's William Esler, "This is the worst season we have had financially and we have scrimped and scraped for parts and to get the cars on the track is a massive effort each week."

On Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps, though, Grosjean made all the scrimping and scraping pay off. And he also demonstrated why Lotus have shown so much faith in him throughout his career.

That feeling when you've just scored a podium and you spot your team in the pitlane. :-) #HappyFaces #BelgianGP #P3 pic.twitter.com/ZcnscLnZY0

— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) August 23, 2015

Yes, he was assisted by two tyre issues for some of his nearest competitors—a penalty for Valtteri Bottas for fitting a mismatched set during a pit stop and a blowout for Sebastian Vettel as Grosjean closed in at the end of the race—but the Frenchman thoroughly deserved his third-place finish.

Grosjean surprised everyone on Saturday by qualifying fourth, although a penalty for a gearbox change (another money issue, as Permane explained in the Sky Sports F1 piece) meant he actually started ninth on Sunday.

Unperturbed, he made a clean start and used DRS to pick off Bottas (twice), Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez in the first half of the race.

Then, on Lap 21 of 43, with Ricciardo's car stalled at the beginning of the pit straight, the virtual safety car was initiated (where each driver must slow down to a predetermined lap speed). Grosjean and several other drivers dove into the pits, while Vettel remained on track, trying to make up ground after a poor qualifying left him eighth on the grid.

When the race restarted, Grosjean was fourth, eight seconds behind Vettel, and he spent the rest of the grand prix slowly reeling the German in.

By Lap 39, Grosjean was within one second of Vettel, but did not quite get close enough to make a pass before Vettel's overworked tyre finally gave out at the high-speed exit of Raidillon.

Whether Grosjean would have actually passed Vettel or not is largely irrelevant. His consistent, mistake-free race, extracting more performance out of the car than anyone expected, is the mark of a top F1 driver. Lotus have maybe the fifth- or sixth-best car on the grid. To put that car on the podium is a huge achievement.

In the post-race press conference, Grosjean said it was, "Probably one of my best races ever."

What a day, what a race... Being back on the podium felt sooooo good!!! @GHMUMM was cold as I like it ! #BelgianGP pic.twitter.com/Cw3EOsXzyd

— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) August 23, 2015

Given the right car, Grosjean certainly has the talent to win races, and perhaps even the world championship. But his star—so bright coming into 2014—has faded amidst the rise of Bottas and Ricciardo and Mercedes' ongoing dominance.

With his performance in Belgium, Grosjean made it clear that he will not fade away.

As he told Sky Sports' James Galloway last year, "What I really want now is to win my first grand prix of course—and why not trying to become World Champion?"

One step at a time, but, after a year and a half of disappointment, Grosjean is finally stepping in the right direction again.

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Need an indication of just how far Pastor Maldonado has fallen? The second free practice session for last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix provided a perfect example.

Only 15 minutes of the 90-minute session had passed when Roberto Merhi lost control of his Manor Marussia under braking for the Nouvelle Chicane and had a classic Monte Carlo accident, smashing into the outside wall before coming to a halt.

In the time it took the marshals to recover his car from the scene under red flag conditions, dark clouds had gathered in the mountains and deposited droplets of rain on a part of the world where it was thought the sun always shines, blemishing the unspoiled.

Despite the slippery surface representing the end of any serious running for most drivers and teams, Lotus opted to send Maldonado back out on the track with super-soft, dry-compound tyres within minutes of the session being officially restarted.

Pastor's heading out for a little drive around, just to see what this rain is all about... #FP2 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/y5j1K2HSd2

— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) May 21, 2015

What initially appeared to be a ill-judged decision soon became an insane one, as by the time Maldonado reached Casino Square on what would have been his out-lap, the rain started falling with increased intensity, forcing the team to abandon whatever it was they were trying to achieve.

"It's raining too much," reported Maldonado over team radio, according to the FIA television feed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJnsfMxywek

"OK Pastor, understood. Bring the car back then please, Pastor," came the reply of his race engineer, Mark Slade, no doubt beginning to fear the worst.

What followed was one of the most amusingly tense minutes of the season as Maldonado faced the challenge of returning unscathed to the sanctuary of the garage. 

https://twitter.com/EliGP/status/601363195694075904

Television pictures cut to a shot of a group of Lotus mechanics, who—not for the first time—were found laughing among themselves as they watched their driver's "progress," and the pit lane held its collective breath as Maldonado tiptoed around the track.

Pastor had always excelled around Monaco, one of the few places where his willingness to play dare with his surroundings has actually played to his advantage.

He won in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2006. He triumphed in GP2 in 2007 and 2009, finishing on the podium in 2008 and 2010. He dragged an uncompetitive Williams as high as sixth place in the 2011 grand prix and, lest we forget, was considered one of the favourites for victory prior to the 2012 event.

Yet here were his Lotus colleagues—and, indeed, much of the F1 fraternity—just waiting to hear the sound of carbon fibre meeting steel, unable to trust Maldonado to make it back to the pit lane, even at slow speed, without pulverising his car.

How nervous are the Lotus mechanics right now...

— F1 Paddock Pass (Back for 2024) (@F1PaddockPass) May 21, 2015

The Venezuelan, however, salvaged what's left of his reputation by successfully passing the test and, 48 hours later, enhanced it for the first time in a long while by outqualifying team-mate Romain Grosjean by 0.3 seconds, as per the official F1 website.

After a clean start from eighth on the grid, it felt as though this was the afternoon for Maldonado's fortune to change, but his race was ended after just five laps due to braking problems with his Lotus, meaning he has yet to score a single point this season having also retired in Australia, Malaysia, China and Spain.

Although Maldonado has urged the team to rally together after the disappointment of yet another DNF, telling Lotus' official website how "we just need to keep calm and move onto (the next race in) Canada," even he must worry about his prospects for this campaign.

After all, if he can't score points at Monaco—a place that has served him so well over the years—just where will he be able to reach the top 10 in 2015?

We may only be six races into the campaign, but Grosjean's three consecutive points finishes in Malaysia, Bahrain and Spain may be as good as it gets this season for Lotus, who with a distinct lack of resources in contrast to the teams around them are likely to lose out in the development race.

With McLaren almost certain to make further advancements with their Honda power unit, Red Bull Racing (and Scuderia Toro Rosso) set to drag Renault out of their mess and Force India, as reported by Autosport's Lawrence Barretto, planning to introduce a B-spec car at Silverstone, Lotus could quite easily find themselves overtaken in the pecking order by as many as four teams in the coming weeks.

That would leave even a driver as fast and consistent as Grosjean, never mind a hot-and-cold performer such as Maldonado, with a considerable fight on his hands to score points, placing an emphasis on the team to score the majority of their points early on, when they—depending on a circuit's layout—have the fourth-fastest car behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams.

While Grosjean has cashed in, dragging Lotus to seventh in the current constructors' standings, Maldonado has acted as an anchor, preventing his team from greater success and a serious assault on the top five.

It is, of course, embarrassing for a driver to finish a season with no points, but in 2015, when only two men—Merhi and Will Stevens, representing a Manor team who arguably deserve no place on the Formula One grid—have no realistic chance of scoring, it would be particularly humiliating.

It would see them symbolically cut adrift from, and left behind by, the serious competitors in the sport and confirm their status as pointless in both senses of the word.

With 13 rounds still remaining, there is every chance that Maldonado will finally string a clean, trouble-free weekend together and record his first top-10 finish since last year's United States Grand Prix. But as his point-scoring drought continues, the tension will only grow on his side of the garage, and the unthinkable could become a reality.

As the Lotus mechanics confirmed in FP2 in Monaco, you wouldn't put anything past Pastor.

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Formula One teams have around 27 million reasons to employ Pastor Maldonado, but even those have little justification after the opening four races of the 2015 season.

That—$27 million—is the price he (or rather, PDVSA, his personal sponsor) pays for the pleasure of driving for Lotus in the pinnacle of motorsport, according to Autosport's Ian Parkes.

And it is clear who gets the better deal.

While Maldonado gets to pretend to be one of the 20 fastest drivers in the world, revelling in the priceless experience of racing on the same stretch of tarmac as modern greats such as Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, Lotus, one of the proudest institutions in the history of F1, are reduced to a one-car team, their constructors' championship prospects significantly undermined.

The effect of this was concealed throughout last season when the team's underwhelming, underpowered E22 car left Maldonado and team-mate Romain Grosjean with only rare point-scoring opportunities.

But the arrival of the silver bullet in the form a Mercedes power unit, which comes with it a free ticket to the upper echelons of the midfield, has only served to illustrate how considerable an obstacle the Venezuelan is to collective success.

Since the team's false start in Australia, where both cars retired on the first lap on the race, Grosjean has recovered sufficiently to become a regular presence in the top 10, reaching Q3 in Malaysia, China and Bahrain, as well as securing two consecutive seventh-place finishes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S78Rs-Jp2Zk

Maldonado, by contrast, has remained trapped in the early segments of qualifying, suffering a puncture after making contact with Valtteri Bottas at Sepang, missing the pit-entry, spinning on track and colliding with Jenson Button at Shanghai before hitting Max Verstappen as well as Felipe Massa at Sakhir.

The Venezuelan has failed to reach the chequered flag in all four races thus far—retiring in Australia, Malaysia and China before finishing a lap down due to engine troubles in Bahrain—and, tellingly, has the indignity of being the only driver other than the McLaren-Honda and Manor pairings yet to score a point.

His currency, it appears, is lower than ever.

Which is particularly unfortunate when you consider that Lotus' currency is seemingly higher than it has been for some time.

According to Parkes of Autosport, the team's "accounts for the year ending 2014 are expected to show a gross profit for the first time in many years, with turnover up by around a third" and a net loss of "just under £6 million" compared to a £64 million loss for 2013, which would represent the team operating close to "an even financial keel" once again.

It would also be a bittersweet development for Maldonado, whose PDVSA funds will no doubt be crucial to any financial turnaround at Lotus, but whose place would potentially come under threat if the team found themselves in a stronger position.

Maldonado, after all, only secured a Lotus seat at the end of 2013 when—as reported by the Telegraph's Tom Cary at the time—it became clear the team couldn't risk their long-term future by signing the highly-rated Nico Hulkenberg, who provides little sponsorship money.

If, therefore, Lotus achieved some financial stability, the team would presumably be given more freedom when it comes to their driver lineup and be less inclined to sacrifice performance for mere preservation, which would suddenly leave Maldonado extremely vulnerable.

Indeed, Lotus CEO Matthew Carter, the man behind the team's recovery, has suggested the Venezuelan, despite being cocooned by all those bank notes, cannot expect to be immune from the exit, telling Parkes: 

They (PDVSA) are a good sponsor, and while our latest figures stack up, they stack up contingent on PDVSA being involved within the team.

At the moment they are part and parcel of what makes up our budget, so we're not looking to change.

But then no driver is in a position where they cannot be dropped.

They're only as good as their previous performances, and ultimately Pastor proves himself on the track.

It is appropriate that Carter's comments should come on the eve of the Spanish Grand Prix, the scene of Maldonado's greatest afternoon; his solitary race win, in 2012.

After a debut season spent doing much of what he's doing now—crashing into anything and everything, making a nuisance of himself—it was at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya where Maldonado came of age, resisting the threat of, and considerable pressure exerted by, Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

It should have been his breakthrough moment. It should have been a turning point in his career. It should have been the day he truly arrived in F1.

But it proved to be little more than a fleeting visit.

Three years on, Maldonado has explained how his single grand prix victory has taken on a different meaning against the backdrop of his drastic downturn in form, which has seen him score points just five times in the 58 races since Spain 2012.

The 30-year-old told Lotus' official website: "That weekend shows why you must never give up in Formula One...My mentality changed and this now drives me forward when times are tough."

If he can put those lessons into practice and stay out of trouble in Spain, Maldonado might finally prove his worth to Lotus this weekend.

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Last year was a disastrous one for Lotus.

After ending 2013 with the second-fastest car in the field, which allowed Romain Grosjean to emerge as the main challenger to Sebastian Vettel in the midst of the German's record nine-race winning streak, the team effectively crumbled.

Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus' lead driver since 2012, fled to join James Allison—their recently departed technical director—at Ferrari, having exposed the true extent of the outfit's financial problems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q1vWngYlr8

Also through the exit door went Eric Boullier—the man who had steadied the ship in 2010 when the team, then known as Renault, were on their knees following the Crashgate revelations and returned them to grand prix-winning status—who found new employment at McLaren.

Despite the retention of talented personnel such as Grosjean, new Technical Director Nick Chester and Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane, the flesh had very much been peeled from the bones of Lotus over the winter of 2013/14, which left the team unprepared ahead of the sport's season of change.

The result?

Lotus' twin-tusk E22 was the only car that failed to appear at the all-important Jerez pre-season test last January, which forced the team to play catch-up in a chase they were never going to win in terms of both pace and reliability.

Among the biggest disappointments of the team's 2014 campaign—which saw the E22 score points on just three occasions as Lotus finished eighth in the constructors' standings—was the fact that we were denied a worthwhile interteam battle between Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, Raikkonen's replacement.

Previously rivals in GP2, their careers stalled last year as a direct consequence of the team's fall from competitiveness.

You never forget your first time... pic.twitter.com/OFfGv6XVf7

— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) November 29, 2013

However, Lotus' capture of a Mercedes power unit for 2015 and the introduction of an all-new chassis—Maldonado told Autosport's Ben Anderson and Andrew van Leeuwen that the 2015 car is "a big revolution" and "completely different" from the E22—should reinvigorate the Enstone-based team and therefore make the Grosjean-Maldonado battle far more meaningful.

As the established figure within the team, if not their biggest asset, Grosjean should be in a prime position to convert his superiority over Maldonado on a grander stage in 2015.

Despite the focus surrounding the struggles of Vettel and Raikkonen in 2014, the Frenchman was arguably the biggest loser of the huge regulation changes, having been denied the opportunity to build upon his strong end to the previous season.

Such is the fast-moving nature of Formula One that Grosjean's year in the midfield saw his stock fall dramatically as the likes of Daniel Ricciardo, the only non-Mercedes driver to win a grand prix, and the consistent Valtteri Bottas became the sport's latest golden boys.

And although Grosjean scored eight of Lotus' 10 points in 2014—and somehow managed to drag the car to fifth on the grid in Spain—the feeling that his career was in danger of being wasted shone through all too often.

Team radio messages in which he was heard berating the car, the Renault powertrain and the team's struggles to resolve their problems became the soundbite of his season, while scenes of arm waving and storming from the garage served as accurate snapshots.

Yet despite trying to navigate his way out of the team—the 28-year-old told Sky Sports' James Galloway last July of his openness to leaving Lotus, and his stay was not confirmed until it became clear he was not in contention for the vacant seats at Ferrari and McLaren—the changes at Enstone should be a source of optimism in 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuBBa-bmJLg

And with that optimism should come a renewed sense of focus and satisfaction as Grosjean seeks to make up for lost time.

For Maldonado, making up for lost time should be secondary to rebooting his entire approach.

Although the Venezuelan ended last year with two points—one point more than his first and final seasons with Williams in 2011 and 2013—it was the worst season of his F1 career from a performance perspective by some margin.

In a year defined by two embarrassing clangers in the space of a couple of hours at the Chinese Grand Prix—he spun while fiddling with a steering wheel switch in FP1 before crashing in the pit lane in FP2—that Maldonado only scored points once Marussia and Caterham were sidelined with financial problems said it all.

After burning his bridges with Williams in 2013, hinting to Sky Sports' Mike Wise that the team had sabotaged his car at the United States GP, Maldonado has so far failed to endear himself to Lotus, with F1 journalist Peter Windsor claiming as long ago as mid-2014 that the Venezuelan was unpopular within his new environment.

It is often claimed in motorsport that a driver's team-mate is his closest rival, as the man on the other side of the garage has access to identical machinery, but Maldonado would be well advised to view Grosjean not as a direct opponent but as a blueprint.

The two Lotus drivers, after all, are—or were—cut from the same cloth in terms of technique, as both are flamboyant, fast and reliant on their car control.

Although it is a driving style that can pay dividends on occasion, it also carries various pitfalls. Grosjean found that out the hard way in 2012 when he was handed a one-race ban after causing a number of first-lap incidents.

That punishment was arguably the catalyst for change, and the Frenchman, after a few more offs upon his return to action, came back for 2013 with more finesse behind the wheel.

Although he went under the radar for the first half of '13 as he adjusted to his new on-track application, Grosjean soon reaped the rewards to the point that he was widely heralded as a potential future world champion.

That is what Maldonado should hope to emulate this year and, in many ways, is what Lotus as a collective unit should focus on doing in 2015.

After the annus horribilis that was 2014, the team—following the changes behind the scenes—have a strong chance of mounting a rapid resurgence and returning to the top five of the constructors' standings.

Next let's show off that beautiful car of ours... Hi #E23! pic.twitter.com/QU98s9DAPJ

— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) February 5, 2015

For Grosjean, it may become clear that the grass isn't greener elsewhere, while it will be better late than never for Maldonado, who finally gets the chance to show what he can do with a Mercedes engine after happily walking away from Williams.

As far as all at Lotus are concerned, 2015 is about restoring reputations and reminding F1 what it missed out on last year.

You would expect Grosjean to be far more capable of doing that than Maldonado.

Follow @OllieHarden

Romain Grosjean has won everywhere he has raced: Formula Renault, Formula Three, GP2, the GT1 sports car series. Everywhere, that is, except Formula One.

After a strong finish to the 2013 season (four podiums in the last six races), Grosjean seemed a lock to take his first victory this year. He even became the de facto team leader at Lotus when Kimi Raikkonen moved to Ferrari.

But the Lotus E22 is, quite simply, not a good race car. Grosjean has managed just two eighth-place finishes this season and has not finished higher than 12th since Monaco. Those poor results have led to him openly discussing whether his F1 future is with Lotus—a team that has shown remarkable faith in him, even when his driving ability was called into question.

The first real crash of 2014. Grosjean in FP2 pic.twitter.com/Kb82YDmPlw

— Motorsport Pictures (@MS_Pictures) March 19, 2014

Grosjean is living at least the third of his nine F1 lives right now. Back in 2009, he was in his second year as a test driver for Renault, while also competing in GP2. When Nelson Piquet, Jr. was axed midseason, Grosjean was prematurely promoted to the Brazilian's seat.

Predictably, Grosjean struggled, particularly in comparison to his world champion team-mate, Fernando Alonso. In seven races, Grosjean never finished higher than 13th, while Alonso snagged third place in Singapore.

At the end of the season, Alonso moved to Ferrari, replaced by Robert Kubica, while Vitaly Petrov took Grosjean's seat. Without an F1 drive, Grosjean returned to GP2 and also took up sports car racing, competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

He was given a second chance in 2011 when his former team, now called Lotus (with Renault supplying the engines), brought him back as a test driver. Meanwhile, he won the GP2 championship over a number of familiar names, including Jules Bianchi, Esteban Gutierrez, Marcus Ericsson and Max Chilton.

That performance helped convince the team to promote him back into a race seat along the newly signed Raikkonen in 2012. Although he collected three podium finishes, Grosjean also caused a number of first-lap accidents, including a big one at Spa that led to a one-race ban. Still, the team gave him another chance in 2013.

He started seeing a sports psychiatrist, who he credited with helping him calm down and increase his self-confidence, per ESPN F1. The aforementioned strong results followed, but 2014 has been a disappointment.

So where does Grosjean go from here?

Some of his ties to Lotus are disappearing. First, his former team principal and manager Eric Boullier left for McLaren. Now, the team is switching from Renault engines to Mercedes. Renault, a French company, has supported the Swiss-French Grosjean since the earliest days of his single-seater career, a decade ago.

According to James Galloway of Sky Sports, McLaren have been rumoured as a possible landing spot for Grosjean, where he could rejoin Boullier. 

In the same article, Grosjean was quoted as saying:

What I really want now is to win my first grand prix of course—and why not trying to become World Champion?

... I miss fighting for podiums and I miss drinking the champagne on Sunday afternoon. That’s what I want—that’s what all of us want. When you taste it once you don’t not want to taste it for a long time.

McLaren, though, seem to be making a strong push to sign an established star for 2015—Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel have both been mentioned as possibilities by Autosport's Jonathan Noble, among others.

It is conceivable that McLaren could replace both their current drivers, but it is not clear that Grosjean would be a big step up over Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen.

If either Alonso or Vettel does move to McLaren, one of their seats would become available, but it is unlikely Grosjean would be in contention for it. Red Bull like to promote from within, and Daniil Kvyat has shown well in his first season with their sister team, Toro Rosso. 

Ferrari, meanwhile, have Jules Bianchi waiting in the wings and also have links to Nico Hulkenberg.

Mercedes and Williams seem happy with their driver pairings, and there are no other teams that would be seen as a step up from Lotus.

Force India has been better than Lotus this season—and a spot could become available there if Hulkenberg were to move up the grid—but there is no guarantee they will still be ahead of Lotus next year, with both teams running the same power unit.

So it seems that another season at Lotus is the most likely scenario for Grosjean right now—and that may not be a bad thing. If the team can improve with their switch to Mercedes engines and Grosjean can return to his form from the end of 2013, he could be bargaining from a position of strength next year.

However, he will also be 29 by the end of next season—not exactly young in an era where a 16-year-old can be signed to a race seat.

While Grosjean's future path does not look nearly as straight as it did 12 months ago, the F1 driver market is an ever-shifting landscape. Perhaps his opportunity in a top-flight car will come as early as next season, or perhaps it will take longer. 

It remains to be seen whether Lotus' struggles this year are a one-year blip or a new, downward trend (if he does indeed remain at Lotus).

"You tend to always think that the grass of the neighbour is greener than yours," Grosjean said, according to Galloway's Sky Sports article. “Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not, so every time you change something there’s a risk."

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Remember when Romain Grosjean was the happiest driver in Formula One? 

Less than a year ago, the Lotus driver was a case study of resurrection, having recovered from the crash compilation that was his 2012 campaign to establish himself as one of the most exciting talents on the grid.

Even in the midst of that spell of lost front wings and clumsy spins, as well as a one-race ban, Grosjean kept smiling.

He recognised that there was a problem—who couldn't?—but with the help of his colleagues and the hope of those three assured podium finishes in Bahrain, Canada and Hungary, he came through the other side.

Grosjean's run of form at the end of 2013, which saw him claim four podium finishes in the last six races, was not just a triumph for the Frenchman—it was a victory for determination and radiance.

It proved that nice guys don't necessarily finish last.

Fast forward nine months, however, and it is now Daniel Ricciardo with the infectious smile. It is Ricciardo who is the rising star. It is Ricciardo receiving the plaudits. 

And Grosjean? Well, his smile has dropped as sharply as Lotus' form.

The frustration of tumbling down the grid, especially after Grosjean finished last season so strongly, has been clear to see.

From the very first weekend of the season in Australia, the team radio messages airing from the No. 8 car have been made by an angry young man struggling to come to terms with the prospect of his peak years being wasted in useless machinery.

Lotus' failure to make any notable gains over the first half of the campaign has convinced Grosjean that his future lies elsewhere, with the Frenchman making no secret of his desire to flee the team.

He was quoted at Silverstone last month by Sky Sports' James Galloway as stating:

You always think about your future. I’ve been here for a little bit, I know the team very well, but on the other hand I want to win races as well.

So things are open.

It’s early stages and what I really want now is to win my first grand prix of course—and why not trying to become World Champion?

I miss fighting for podiums and I miss drinking the champagne on Sunday afternoon. That’s what I want—that’s what all of us want. When you taste it once you don’t not want to taste it for a long time.

The come-and-get-me plea was soon followed up with a Hungarian Grand Prix performance best remembered for Grosjean storming out of the Lotus garage—complete, of course, with dark sunglasses and a grimace—during a Friday practice session as his car sat in the garage.

Despite his obvious speed behind the wheel, you suspect that Grosjean's conduct during Lotus' difficulties almost makes him unemployable for an outfit such as McLaren, for example, who have been viewed as the Frenchman's most likely destination due to the presence of racing director Eric Boullier, Grosjean's manager and former team principal.

But with Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen, McLaren's current drivers, looking increasingly likely to remain with the Woking, England, team due to a lack of availability of high-profile alternatives—and with the grid's leading teams unlikely to make any changes for 2015—Grosjean could find himself chained to Lotus for at least another season.

And if he does remain with the Enstone team, he could soon find himself on shaky ground.

The effect of the absence of Boullier, his mentor, has been evident this season, but the possible departure of Renault as Lotus' power-unit partner would be more harmful to his F1 career.

If, as F1 journalist Joe Saward has claimed, Lotus announce a deal to use Mercedes engines from 2015, the team are likely to lose support from fuel supplier Total, a sponsor of Grosjean's, as well as Renault—leaving Lotus with fewer reasons to retain him.

The requirements of Formula One drivers in the modern era stretch far beyond the obligation to perform on the track; they are now ambassadors, poster boys, glorified salesmen. 

With that in mind, it is no surprise that the more grumpy drivers in recent years have found themselves frozen out of the sport.

Heikki Kovalainen, the likeable Finnish driver, for instance, was dumped by Caterham at the end of 2012 after trying a little too hard to find a competitive drive after three straight seasons rooted to the rear of the field.

The reasons for Caterham's decision to let Kovalainen, the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix winner, go were damning, with the team's Mike Gascoyne informing Crash.net: 

It is actually a great shame. Heikki is a very talented driver but, last year, his management did not handle him very well and he has not done himself any favours. It is a tough environment out there for everyone. He has had three years with Caterham, was paid well, and he should have shown more respect about that.

Likewise, Paul di Resta left Force India at the end of last year despite gathering a credible amount of points for the midfield outfit.

Although his performances on track were generally decent, his off-track profile was virtually nonexistent, with the Scot, having seen opportunities with leading teams pass him by, frequently berating his team over the pit-to-car radio.

Neither driver is likely to race in F1 again. 

Grosjean would be well-advised to take heed of the sorry tales of Kovalainen and Di Resta when he decides his Formula One future.

It is human nature for a driver to be eager to further his career, but it is irresponsible and inappropriate for one to force the issue to the point where it causes more harm than good, putting that very career in jeopardy.

The driver market, with just 22 seats available, is arguably more competitive than it has ever been, and there will always one driver to fill the gap left by another.

It's time to shut up and drive, Romain.

Romain Grosjean finished eighth at the 2014 Formula One Spanish Grand Prix to give Lotus their first four points of the season.

At this point last year, they had 111.

It's a remarkable fall from grace for the Enstone team, but one which was not entirely unexpected.

The loss of lead driver Kimi Raikkonen (who had 85 of those 111 points) was always going to be costly, as were other key departures including technical director James Allison (May 2013), head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer (September 2013) and team principal Eric Boullier (January 2014).

Talk about the team's financial stability refused to go away throughout the winter months, and when they announced they were missing the first pre-season test because the car would not be ready, the outlook seemed even bleaker.

Grosjean's points finish in Spain was significant. It highlighted a substantial step forward for the team after four races in which they finished no higher than 11th.

It also drew attention to something many expert observers, including Autosport's Craig Scarborough (subscription required), noticed as soon as the car appeared at the first Bahrain test—that the E22 is, fundamentally, a very good car with a lot of potential.

Of course, until now, they haven't had a chance to show it.

The biggest problem was a lack of running. With such substantial changes to the regulations—including the new hybrid power units, reduced downforce levels, new nose position requirements and a new range of tyres from Pirelli—getting in track time ahead of the season to understand the new car was vital.

But Lotus didn't manage much at all. Missing the first test was only the start of their issues as they struggled more than any team to integrate the problematic new Renault power train at tests two and three.

If the car wasn't stuck in the garage being worked on, it was stopping out on the track and being brought back on the rear of a flatbed lorry.

At the end of the third test, they had done just 1,288 kilometres of testing, fewer than any team and a lot less than the other expected midfield runners. Williams had done 4,893 kilometres, Sauber 4,039 kilometres and Force India 3,975 kilometres.

The next few races would be spent playing catch-up.

A Tough Start Down Under

Australia was difficult for the team. Grosjean and team-mate Pastor Maldonado managed just 33 laps between them in the three free practice sessions as they discovered new problems to go with the old ones.

It was therefore no surprise when Maldonado failed to set a qualifying time, and Grosjean was last of the runners who did.

But in the race they did a little better than expected. Maldonado parked up after 29 laps, while Grosjean completed 43 laps before his car succumbed to the same MGU-K issue which forced his team-mate out.

The Frenchman was as positive as could be expected about the outing, saying in a statement on the team's website:

We've learnt a lot today and all the changes made to the car have been positive. We still have a long way to go, but at least I know more about tyre usage, all my engineers know where we need to improve with the chassis, and we've learnt a lot about aero balance and fuel consumption.

Of course there's more to do with the energy management and recovery and some work yet with the braking. We've still got lots of work to do, but we’re definitely heading in the right direction.

The team did little real race setup and performance work, and it showed—but at least they got in a few more valuable additional testing miles.

Session	Gros Laps	Kilometres	Mal Laps	Kilometres	Total	Total (Season)
Practice	16	84.8	17	90.1
Qualifying	6	31.8	3	15.9
Race	43	227.9	29	153.7
Total		344.5		259.7	604.2	1,892.26

The only way was up.

The First Finish

The next race was two weeks later, in Malaysia. With the additional data from Australia coupled with what they had learned in the pre-season, Lotus will have been expecting a small step forward.

With one of their cars, they got it. Grosjean put in 34 practice laps and reached Q2 for the first time, doing 17 laps in the process.

He capped a fine weekend by getting to the end, and we got a glimpse of the car's potential as it outpaced the Saubers and finished right behind the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat.

Maldonado had a tougher weekend, a power unit failure knocking him out after just seven laps. But every little helps, and the team acquired yet more data about the car's strengths and weaknesses.

Session	Gros Laps	Kilometres	Mal Laps	Kilometres	Total	Total (Season)
Practice	34	188.36	22	121.88
Qualifying	17	94.18	8	44.32
Race	55	304.7	7	38.78
Total		587.24		204.98	792.22	2,684.28

The improvement from Australia to Malaysia had been obvious, but the team were still nowhere near being able to unleash the E22's full potential.

Progress in Bahrain

Lotus had 2,684 kilometres under their belts as the F1 world headed back to Bahrain—a little over half the figure Williams achieved in testing alone.

They went a long way to closing the gap with some excellent running in practice. Both Grosjean and Maldonado did more than a race distance across the three sessions.

But qualifying was a disappointment, and they lined up 16th (Grosjean) and 17th (Maldonado). It was a stark illustration that even at this stage, Lotus and their drivers lacked full understanding of the car.

After the session, Maldonado told the team website:

We're not here to fight for P16 and P17 so it's a bit disappointing to see ourselves where we are in qualifying at the moment. We just need to be focused and try to push even more on the development of the car to catch the people around us. At the moment it’s fair to say our car is a bit on the slow side and quite difficult to drive. However we've made an important step forwards in terms of reliability. There have been no problems this weekend which is quite positive so fingers crossed for tomorrow.

The race went much the same way as Malaysia, with Lotus lagging a little behind the points-scorers. But there was one crucial difference—Maldonado also made it to the end.

Session	Gros Laps	Kilometres	Mal Laps	Kilometres	Total	Total (Season)
Practice	64	346.24	77	416.57
Qualifying	10	54.1	7	37.87
Race	57	308.37	57	308.37
Total		708.71		762.81	1,471.52	4,156

All the teams stayed on in Bahrain for the first in-season test of the year, but it wasn't a productive exercise for Lotus.

Session	Gros Laps	Kilometres	Mal Laps	Kilometres	Total	Total (Season)
Testing	16	86.56	16	86.56	173.12	4,329.12

Over the two days, power unit issues meant Grosjean and Maldonado managed just 32 laps between them.

Showing Real Pace At Last

The team went to China with a respectable 4,329 kilometres on the board. Only Mercedes, Williams and Ferrari had done more in pre-season testing.

But while Lotus had been progressing, everyone else had been moving forward too. The law of diminishing returns would have meant teams like Williams were getting less from each kilometre than Lotus, but the Enstone team were still not quite up to speed.

In practice and qualifying, Grosjean led the way. He managed to qualify in 10th place, by far Lotus' best result of the season so far. After practice, the Frenchman spoke of the improvements he was noticing, saying on the team website:

Everything seemed to work a little better today. It was a good Friday for us overall, we managed to do plenty of laps and understand as much as we could about the E22. We also evaluated a reasonable number of different parts on the car and power unit settings.

Maldonado lagged behind, but while Grosjean retired after 28 laps of the race, the Venezuelan made it to the end. From last place he climbed to 14th, contributing towards the team's weekend total of 1,161 kilometres.

Session	Gros Laps	Kilometres	Mal Laps	Kilometres	Total	Total (Season)
Practice	64	348.8	46	250.7
Qualifying	22	119.9	0	0
Race	28	152.6	53	288.85
Total		621.3		539.55	1,160.85	5,489.97

Grosjean had retired from a points-paying position, and it looked like Lotus were finally close to getting the E22 firing on all cylinders.

One Road Ends, Another Begins

And so to Spain. Lotus had now done 5,490 kilometres, and the car had shown genuine pace in Grosjean's hands at the last race in China.

Practice went well, with a Lotus in the top 10 of every practice session and a huge number of laps put on the board.

Maldonado crashed on his first qualifying lap and would start 21st, but Grosjean produced an exceptional lap to put his E22 fifth on the grid. Only the two Mercedes, Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull and Valtteri Bottas in the Williams went quicker.

The Frenchman settled into fifth after the start and looked to have the pace to stay there. On the demanding Catalunya circuit where downforce is king, the Lotus was finally showing at least a large part of the potential it had all along.

But then a sensor failed in Grosjean's power unit, leaving him struggling. He told Autosport:

It was a sensor failure that brought other issues. I think we were running five or six cylinders depending on what it decided to do. We lost it around lap 12. It was creating some other problems losing the quick shift on the gears.

It was a bit shaky in the car and not very powerful in a straight-line.

Both Ferraris breezed past the stricken Lotus, and it looked like a points finish would again slip from the team's fingers. But Grosjean held it together and only gave up one additional place, crossing the line in eighth.

Session	Gros Laps	Kilometres	Mal Laps	Kilometres	Total	Total (Season)
Practice	65	302.58	95	442.23
Qualifying	18	83.79	2	9.31
Race	65	302.58	65	305.58
Total		688.95		757.12	1,446.07	6,936.04

Lotus can now look to the future with a renewed sense of optimism. After five races, the E22 has done 6,936 kilometres, and the understanding of the car is there to move on to even stronger results.

Spain was only the beginning—the car has more pace to come.

They won't catch Mercedes, and Red Bull are almost certainly out of reach too.

But there's no reason they can't get involved with the Ferraris, Williams, Force Indias and McLarens at Monaco and beyond.

That would be quite an achievement for the Enstone crew.

All lap data in tables from Formula1.com.

Tweet Tweet: Follow @NeilJamesF1

After acting as a ramp for the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez in Bahrain, Pastor Maldonado could have done with a weekend under the radar at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan was handed a triple penalty for the incident with Gutierrez, which included a 10-second stop/go penalty, three penalty points on his superlicense and a five-place grid penalty for Shanghai.

The last of those, surely, was to ensure that this weekend would pass without bother for Maldonado, whose Lotus is bound to qualify towards the rear of the field anyway.

With just backmarkers around him at the start, and his E22 still troublesome enough to prevent him from challenging the usual midfield runners on pure pace alone, the chances of him getting in on the act of ruining somebody else’s race would be significantly reduced.

But on Friday at the Shanghai International Circuit, Maldonado proved not for the first time that he does not need an ally or a victim to cause havoc.

The first free practice session saw the 29-year-old have a bizarre off at Turn 9, going off the track momentarily before spinning his Lotus. This was rather incredibly due to Maldonado taking his eyes off the road as he fiddled with a button on his steering wheel.

His embarrassment was compounded in the second practice session when he then crashed at the infamous pit entry which claimed Lewis Hamilton in an ultimately title-deciding incident in 2007.

The root of Maldonado’s tendency to crash into anything within a 200-yard radius has been something of a mystery since he made his grand prix debut in 2011.

Those who recall his swipe towards Hamilton during qualifying at Spa in 2011, as well as his handbags with Sergio Perez in practice at Monaco the following year, will point to a certain malice that perpetually bubbles below the surface of his driving.

Others will look at his bashing against Paul di Resta at the Hungaroring in 2012, for example, as evidence to suggest that Maldonado is a talented driver who struggles to find the balance between safety and speed.

After all, in the dog-eat-dog world of Formula One, which is perhaps more competitive than ever before in terms of finding enough seats for drivers, there is great pressure on drivers in the midfield to stand out from the crowd. That feeling is heightened for so-called “pay drivers” such as Maldonado, who are forever forced to justify their places on the grid. That need to impress, then, could be interpreted as Maldonado’s downfall.

On the evidence of his Friday antics in Shanghai, however, Maldonado’s biggest hurdle to success is his complete and utter clumsiness.

Ah, that wasn't part of the plan.

— Lotus F1 Team (@Lotus_F1Team) April 18, 2014

The nature of his incidents, particularly in FP1, showed all the hallmarks of a driver with no concept of his surroundings, no awareness. It was almost as if he had forgotten which part of the circuit he was on as he drew his attention to his steering wheel, turning right as a left-hand corner was approaching.

His later, session-ending shunt, meanwhile, reeked of carelessness and a lack of respect for the circuit he was driving on. The pit entry in Shanghai is undoubtedly the most difficult in F1, given its habit of tossing cars into the gravel trap which lurks on the outside. Its history means it should be approached with care by the finest drivers in the greatest cars.

Yet Maldonado, not the finest of drivers in what certainly is not the greatest of cars, ploughed into the barrier, ripping his right-front wheel off and shredding that horrendous twin-tusk nose of the Lotus.

And as he trudged his way back towards the pit lane to finish the journey on foot, the FOM footage cut to a shot of a group of Maldonado’s Lotus mechanics who were watching the footage of the crash in the garage.

The majority of the men in the shot stood motionless, but one mechanic thrust forward before turning away in laughter and shaking his head. This occurred only a matter of hours after Alexander Rossi, Caterham’s reserve driver, sniggered at Maldonado's misfortune on BBC Sport’s practice footage as the Lotus spun at Turn 9.

It’s one thing for Maldonado to be the subject of jokes by the fans of Formula One; it’s quite another for him to be mocked by his fellow competitors and even his own colleagues.

It is a reflection of what Maldonado has become. We are little more than three weeks away from only the second anniversary of his superb, breakthrough win in Spain—a victory that was set to elevate him to a new level of performance and maturity.

But since that May afternoon in Barcelona, he has gone backwards to the point where he has become the laughingstock of F1. And you know the saddest aspect of his demise? Maldonado has never even hinted at being able to learn from his mistakes.

What a waste.