Bob Bell: No feelings about the choice of Renault’s second driver

Bob Bell admits that it would be sad to lose Romain Grosjean, but also indicates that Renault will first evaluate alternative options in order to form the strongest possible driver duo.

Romain Grosjean, a member of the Renault young driver program since 2005, was promoted to the F1 team, replacing Nelson Piquet Jr., while the Frenchman was still in contention for the GP2 championship title.

But, while he has sometimes qualified with a respectable margin behind his illustrious teammate, Fernando Alonso, the former GP2 Asia champion has made a number of mistakes, has been unlucky twice, and has not managed to do better than a 13th place in seven Grand Prix appearances.

It appears that Grosjean’s performances have been insufficient to secure his place at Renault. Timo Glock has emerged as the favorite to join Robert Kubica in an entirely new lineup, as Renault seeks to bounce back after a tumultuous and disappointing 2009 season.

Although Renault has always been proud of the fact that Grosjean is the first French driver to race for Renault since its return to the grid in 2002, the team’s director, Bob Bell, claims that nationality will not be a factor in the French team’s decision regarding the choice of their second driver.

Romain remains a possibility, but in all fairness, we must make sure to offer ourselves the best possible driver duo. We must therefore examine all options, Bell stated last weekend in Abu Dhabi.

«If Romain were to fall out of the equation, then yes, it would be sad to lose him, especially since he is French. But ultimately, and I think Renault fully supports us in this regard, we need to put the best drivers we can afford in the cars next year. If it’s Romain, so much the better, if it’s someone else, then so be it. But our goal for next year is to have the strongest lineup. »

Although Renault had high hopes for the F1 debut of its French protégé, after a successful career in promotional formulas, Bell says that Grosjean’s chances of making an immediate impression were not helped by the ban on in-season private testing. However, while he encountered several difficulties during the first seven races of his career in the top category of motorsport, Bell remains convinced that Grosjean has more potential than what he has shown so far.

«It is truly a recognized fact that it is extremely difficult for a young driver nowadays to enter Formula 1 mid-season without any real testing experience behind him, » explained the team’s interim boss. «Romain did a solid job of dealing with this. »

There are two problems he has to face. First of all, his teammate is a double world champion, and it’s difficult to compare oneself to him as a young driver. And we haven’t been able to give him a particularly high-performance vehicle, which is also challenging for a young driver entering F1. So his debut in F1 has not been easy, and I do not deny that he has a lot of talent and I am sure that in the future we will harness that talent.

Renault has been linked to a multitude of experienced names for the team’s vacant seat in recent weeks, and it seems that Timo Glock is the most likely to partner with Robert Kubica. With an unusually high number of talented drivers still without seats for 2010, Bell says Renault is evaluating all options but is keen to confirm its second driver as soon as possible.

“It is a fact that there are many drivers on the market at the moment, and I believe we need to look at all options, and that’s what we are doing,” he added. “We are evaluating all the available drivers and we will make a decision and try to reach an agreement as quickly as we can. It is important for the team and we are not ruling out any possibilities.”