Romain Grosjean

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News | 29/08/2011

• 23/08/2011

  Romain Grosjean - "Don't Stop Me...

• 25/06/2011

  Romain - "It was great to be on the...

• 27/05/2011

  ROMAIN TO DEVELOP WSR 2012 CAR

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Romain, congratulations - you're the 2011 GP2 Series Champion. How does that sound?
RG: Finally! It's just fantastic. We've had a really hard season with such a high level of drivers and teams. I think that professionally and personally, this has been a very important season. The team has been very open minded, and there's been a good dialogue. The main thing is we managed to get everything right in the last four races. There's been some luck along the way, but you need that in every championship. I've had a couple of days to reflect on the win and I am very pleased. It has been a very special season.

How highly does this title rank in your career?
RG: It was my personal goal was to grab the title. I am proud of what we and my team have accomplished this season. I wanted this title a lot because it was something missing in my career. Now it's in the pocket, it really is an amazing feeling.

When the season started, everyone saw you as the man to beat, especially after you won the GP2 Asia Series again. Did that create extra pressure?
RG: Honestly, I don't like it when I'm an outsider. But if you watch the results from last season in GP2, Barwa Addax, ART and iSport were stronger than Dams. But this year with the new car and the new Pirelli tyres, we worked very hard. I have to say that we were completely lost in Abu Dhabi when the GP2 Asia season opened at the beginning of the year. Everyone thought we were hiding our true potential when we were P22 in the last test session before the season started. And then, we realised that we needed to just keep working and start again from the beginning and we took pole position. And then the car started to work again. We were strong contenders, but we were also a team that needed to prove that they were able to get back to the top as they were a few years ago.

2009 and 2010 were very tough years for you. What did it take to get to this point today?
RG: I think my career was smooth until 2009. Everything was perfect. I was always in the right team, at the right place and at the right time. I went to SG Formula and became Formula Renault 2.0 Champion. I went then to ART in Formula 3 and became Champion. Then I stayed with the team in GP2 Asia Series and again, I became Champion. Then the first year of GP2 was really great. I was P4 at the end of the season which was a fantastic result. I went to Formula 1 then and unfortunately it was a case of wrong time, wrong place. But it has been important in my career and has definitely helped me get stronger. I realised after that I had a life outside Formula 1. It has truly helped me enjoy the life in the paddock as well. Everyone can see that I'm smiling more. It's because I have less pressure. I still work very hard and seriously, but I put less pressure on my shoulders. That's the way I'm working now. I like to be relaxed. I like to smile a lot before going in the car. I make jokes even on the grid and then I can still manage to focus when it counts.