Alonso, the key to F1 transfers for Grosjean but not for Button

With a difficult season driving an uncompetitive Lotus E22, uncertainty still hangs over Romain Grosjean’s future. The latter, who was highly visible at the end of the 2013 season, continues to assess his options for 2015 and watch the transfer market.

For him, one of the hot points is the decision Fernando Alonso will make: « You have to wait on the side of Ferrari and probably Alonso. From them, the market will move. I am sure you are all as aware of this as I am – if not more – and so far nothing has moved much. You can always speculate, but from what I know, everyone has a contract in the other big teams, and Alonso is somehow the key to the market, » he stated for Crash.net.

If rumors have long linked McLaren and Alonso in the framework of Honda’s return, the Spaniard has reaffirmed in recent days his desire to pursue the adventure with Ferrari, even wishing to extend his contract beyond its term.

When journalists present at Monza asked him if there have been discussions with Ferrari, Romain Grosjean does not dodge the question: « There are always discussions and that’s why we have managers. Yes, there have been a few discussions but so far, we just have to wait. » The few rumors that have emerged about driver No. 8 have, so far, rather linked him to McLaren, where his former manager, Eric Boullier, has become the racing director.

Questioned about potential conflicts of interest if he moves to another team while his management structure, Gravity, and Lotus F1 both belong to the same group, Genii, the Franco-Swiss declares that it is not a problem: “I think it is very clear that I have options to go elsewhere if I want to… I think the strength of Genii is having multiple companies but they don’t link the interests between their two companies. Yes, I am with Gravity and with Lotus and they are both parts of the same large company, but in the end, I think they would always be happy to see me as World Champion and it would be good for Gravity’s image.”

Jenson Button, for his part, is surprised by these statements: « Yeah, they surprise me. I know drivers say they don’t read the press – we only don’t read it when you say something horrible about us – we pretend not to read! It surprises me. I don’t really think he’s the key to the driver market, the two McLaren drivers are the key to the market, I would say. » Indeed, the game of musical chairs could be launched by the announcement of the next driver duo from Woking, if it changes. McLaren has not hidden its intention to attract a top driver for 2015 or 2016.