The report from TF1 follows some several rumors that have appeared in the French media lately, linking the Swiss-born driver to a reserve seat with Renault. Additionally, during a recent interview with the media, the team's manager Eric Boullier admitted that he is working hard to secure Grosjean a place in F1 for 2011.
The 24-year old used to drive for Renault F1 Team back in 2009, when he replaced ousted Nelsinho Piquet midway through the season. Without any prior testing or experience of an F1 car, the racer – who competed under the French flag – failed to score any points in 7 starts, highlighting only a 13th place in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Following his exit from F1 at the end of 2010 – the new management of the team wanted to break all links to the crash-gate and enjoy a brand new start, and Grosjean's being championed by Flavio Briatore did not look good inside the team – the French-licensed driver switched to FIA GT and Le Mans commitments, before returning to single-seaters inside the Auto GP series.
According to the report, Grosjean will be announced as third driver for Lotus Renault during the team's car launch event at Valencia, on January 31st. Following that date, both him and Malaysian driver Fairuz Fauzy – who was recently signed as reserve driver for the team – will take up similar roles, with Renault to set up a Friday driving scheme that would benefit them for the 2011 season.
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