Photo by: XPB Images
Lotus has decided to pair Kimi Raikkonen with new GP2 champion Romain Grosjean next year.
That is the exclusive claim of the Italian news source Italiaracing, citing "more than reliable French sources".
"There is no official announcement (yet) but the contract has been signed in recent days," read the report.
Frenchman Grosjean, who made his troubled F1 debut with the same team (then Renault) amid the 'crashgate' scandal in 2009, is handled by Lotus' new owner Genii Capital's management arm Gravity.
Also in the running for the seat were 2011 teammates Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov.
"Breaking the deadlock in favour of the Frenchman was not only his excellent performance in recent testing and his positive evolution as a driver in the last two years," explained Italiaracing, "but also a range of commercial considerations."
The report tipped Senna to now return to the reserve role, with Vyborg-born Petrov possibly ousting German Timo Glock as the Virgin team adopts the name of its Russian supercar partner Marussia for 2012.
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
The contrasting fortunes of F1's big-name moves to Ferrari
The many surprise driver cameos of the 2023 NASCAR Cup season
Raikkonen enjoys "old-style" racing without F1 DRS in NASCAR
Long Beach IMSA: Bourdais spins then tops FP2 for Cadillac
Latvala: Neuville, Evans tied for WRC Croatia lead "something special"
Streets of Long Beach receive changes ahead of the IMSA, IndyCar doubleheader
The Chinese Grand Prix's Chaotic Return and Cloudy Future
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst-case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments