11/10/2012
NEWS STORY
Romain Grosjean insists that he has finally learned his lesson and his rivals will have nothing to fear at the start of Sunday's Korean Grand Prix.
In only his second outing since the one-race ban imposed for his role in the first lap debacle at Spa-Francorchamps, the Swiss was up to his old tricks at Suzuka, running into the back of (front row starter) Mark Webber as his attention drifted to Sergio Perez who was making a move on the left-hand side. Though both drivers were able to continue, and the Lotus was driver was handed a stop and go penalty, it ended any chance Webber had of a decent points haul and also any last hope of a stab at the title.
Speaking after the race, Webber referred to the Swiss as a "nutcase" and suggested he needed another 'holiday'.
At today's FIA press conference, Grosjean insisted that lessons have been learned.
"I'm clearly conscious of the risk at the start, I'm working on changing quite a lot of things but work doesn't come from one day to the other one. There is a process going on," he said. "I said I was very sorry. I'm not stupid and I'm conscious of the risk. And hopefully by now it will be different and I will not make the mistake of focusing on the wrong targets."
Team boss Eric Boullier, who is also Grosjean's manager, is aware that attention is on the youngster, but stand by him. "We could see in Singapore, when Romain was back after his race ban, that some other drivers were putting extra pressure on him at the start," said the Frenchman earlier this week. "In Suzuka, Romain made a small mistake by misjudging his pace relative to Mark, which was a bit higher. We have sat down and spoken. We understand what has to be done. I think in Singapore to an extent and in Suzuka he was almost trying to overcompensate by focusing on staying out of trouble, which in the last race had the opposite effect."
Looking ahead to Sunday, Grosjean is adamant, staying away from trouble will be the name of the game, for it is not just his own race that he's ruining.
"In the team we spoke quite a lot; they are not happy, I am not happy the way we have been going through the first laps. There are 550 people working at Enstone to give us the best car and if you ruin everything in the first 100 metres it's not good.
"I'm conscious of all of that and will try to take as many precautions as possible to go through the first lap... normally in the race we are OK."