Davide Valsecchi aiming for Lotus F1’s reserve driver role for 2013 F1 season – Formula 1 news
Davide Valsecchi who won the 2012 GP2 Series has stated that he is aiming to secure the reserve driver role for Lotus F1 during the 2013 F1 season.
“At this point, I’m working to get the place of the Lotus team’s third driver,” Valsecchi admitted.
The Italian racing driver also admitted that his initial aim was to replace Romain Grosjean following the uncertainty about his position with Lotus F1 for the next season.
“I honestly thought I could find the financial support allowing me to find a team for 2013, but the various possibilities have weakened,” he said. “In the end he (Grosjean) deserved it because he has proven to be very fast. I think that at the moment the
only hope is to become their third driver, which would not be bad because Lotus is the fourth best team in the world.”
The driver is 25 years old and besides GP2 series, he has competed in Formula Renault, Formula Three, Formula 3000 and also Sports car racing. He also took part in the Abu Dhabi Young Drivers test in 2010 for Hispania Racing. In 2011 F1 season, he became
the third driver for Team Lotus which is now Caterham and replaced Heikki Kovalainen during the Malaysian Grand Prix in the morning session of the Friday practice ahead of the race.
Lotus F1’s third driver for 2012 was Jerome D’Ambrosio who drove for the team during the Italian GP in September when Grosjean was banned from the race by the race stewards.
Lotus F1 finished the season in fourth place after competing strongly throughout the season. While Grosjean was involved in many unwanted incidents over the track several times, his three podium finishes were very valuable for the team. However, his future
with Lotus F1 remained surrounded with uncertainty until recently when he was confirmed for 2013 with the team.
Team principal, Eric Boullier, stated that they wanted to continue with the same drivers into the new season because that will provide them with stability and also that Grosjean was ready to accept his mistakes and rectify them in 2013.
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