Grosjean to join Haas in 2016

In somewhat of a coup for Hass F1 team they have announced that they have snapped up Romain Grosjean from Lotus.

The formal announcement of the deal may well have been fully expected and with Lotus in the midst of their takeover from Renault the Enstone team themselves don’t have a very stable future at the moment.

But a brand new team entering Formula One for the first time next year has secured Romain Grosjean, an experienced driver with 78 Grand Prix starts and 10 podiums. That is impressive.

So how have they done it? It’s all down to their close working relationship with Ferrari.

The United States team has strong links with Ferrari, the Italian side will be developing the teams power-unit and gearbox amongst other things, whilst the chassis will be developed by Haas.

This should put Haas in a strong position in comparison to the other recent F1 newbies which has seen both HRT and Caterham fold and Manor Marussia race with a 2014 car all season following their own financial problems.

It is also thought that Grosjean’s move could place him in the best possible position to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari in 2017.

‘I liked that it was a different approach to what a normal new F1 team would do and I think it is an approach that can be successful, I like the idea of the partnership with Ferrari, I like the way everything has been going, I like the way it is going slowly but nicely and I am very, very happy that I made that decision.’ Grosjean told Sky Sports.

Haas have not named who will partner Grosjean for next season, but it is fully expected that Ferrari reserve Esteban Gutierrez will be given the seat.