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Romain Grosjean will get his chance to stake a claim for a 2012 Lotus Renault seat when he drives in FP1 in the last two races of the season.

He will replace Bruno Senna in Abu Dhabi and Vitaly Petrov in Brazil, which will ensure that Senna has a full weekend on track at his home race.

Grosjean, who won this year’s GP2 Series, last raced in F1 with Renault in 2009. However he did some running in Pirelli’s Toyota test car earlier this year.

He joins a list of potential 2012 LRGP candidates that includes both of the current drivers, and Robert Kubica.

Team boss Eric Boullier said: “Romain has been part of the LRGP family since February and we feel this is an appropriate time to give him a chance to drive for us during two Free Practice sessions. Putting his skills to the test in two consecutive Friday sessions will offer him precious experience of driving the R31 during a race weekend and will make him a better driver.

“I’m sure that his feedback will be useful for the team, especially as he raced in F1 only two years ago. Since then, he has improved in every area and I’m sure he’ll do a good job for us. We will be able to do this without compromising our usual Friday set-up work in any way, and as of Free Practice 2 at both race weekends, Bruno and Vitaly will return to their cars.”

Grosjean added: “It will be a big responsibility for me and my priority will be to do the best job I can for the team. I know all the team’s mechanics and engineers, am familiar with the methodology and processes and I know the two tracks I’ll be testing on.

I also feel that the racing I did in the GP2 Series this year will stand me in good stead fitness-wise. Finally, I did some F1 testing for Pirelli during the winter at the beginning of this year, so the tyres shouldn’t be too alien to me.

“I believe all the right elements are in place to make this a great experience, and I don’t feel too much pressure going into this. My aim, of course, will be to help Lotus Renault GP prepare for the race weekends, to offer the best feedback I can and to be reliable and consistent. Getting an opportunity like this is always a massive boost in a driver’s career and I’ll make sure I make the most of the chance I’ve been given.”

Felipe Massa gave himself a boost by being was fastest in FP2 in India today, although the Brazilian isn’t getting too excited just yet, given that the formbook suggests Red Bull and Ferrari will come good tomorrow.

Massa was just 0.088s ahead of nearest challenger Sebastian Vettel, and 0.224s in front of team mate Fernando Alonso.

He says he likes the track, and expects it to create plenty of overtaking.

“I think the car was good, I think the car was competitive,” he said. “We’ll see tomorrow how Red Bull and McLaren was running in terms of fuel and everything. But I think the car was good, and I did good laps as well. I think when the car is good and you do good laps, you can be on the top.

“It was very dirty. Offline it was very difficult, because there’s a lot of sand outside the line, but it’s a nice track.”

Massa says that the wide entries to the slower corners will encourage overtaking.

“It’s different, the ideas, in terms of the slow corners – Turn 3, Turn 4, and the last corner. It’s a very wide entry. This for sure creates different directions for the race, and even for qualifying – I mean for qualifying everybody tries to find the quickest line to cut the corner in the best direction, to gain speed in the total corner.

“In the race it’s different. If you are in the front , if you take the right line to the corner, the other car can pass you on braking. He just dives inside and can put the car on your side, because it’s so wide. So you need to turn a little bit before and brake more in the middle of the corner. The other car behind can go wide and take a very good exit. For sure it’s a big idea and a good idea for overtaking.

“It can make the race very challenging as well, for the drivers. And also the track is very nice. It has some uphills, some downhills, some very high speed corners, so I really enjoy it.”

Massa is adamant that Pirelli was too conservative with its choice of the hard tyre – on which Ferrari has of course always struggled.

“I think maybe the hard tyre is too hard for this track. It was really possible to drive with the same tyres as the last race here, because the asphalt is so smooth, and the degradation is much lower than expected.

“But we saw that in Korea, when we had the soft and supersoft tyres there, everybody was a bit scared. But then it was fine, it was the right choice. And here, looking at the asphalt, it’s not so different. For me it was the wrong direction to bring the hard.”

Mark Webber says that the Buddh’s circuits slower corners provide its stiffest challenge.

Webber, who was third in the morning session and fifth in the afternoon, said he enjoyed the track.

“It’s got quick left/rights where the car is in fourth and fifth gear, which is nice, instead of second gear everywhere,” said Webber. “It’s a good track.

“As usual some of the low speed stuff is quite challenging, even though it’s slow. You always think that the faster corners are more challenging, but Turn 3 is for example quite tricky, and also Turn 4 is not straightforward. They are probably the most challenging and frustrating corners to get right, a lot of lap time in there. But the quick stuff is always rewarding.”

Webber said that he was happier with the car in FP1 than in FP2.

“This morning was good, this afternoon it was a different girl, she wasn’t talking me that well! We’ll get it back tomorrow.”

Sebastian Vettel says he enjoyed his first acquaintance with the Buddh circuit today, although like everyone else he found the dusty conditions difficult.

Vettel finished FP2 in India in second place, just 0.088s off pacesetter Felipe Massa.

“It’s interesting, a good challenge,” said Vettel. “It’s very dusty to start with, but the track seems fun, especially the wide entries give a lot of options to all the drivers. We’ll see a good race on Sunday.

“It is tricky, because it’s so dusty offline in particular. If a car goes off in front and comes back it carries all the sand on the line, so it’s not easy. It will be a bit the story of the weekend, so we have to make sure we stay on line. Unfortunately we have to live with it, but I think it will improve throughout the weekend. It shouldn’t be a big problem in the race.”

Vettel says he expects overtaking to be possible.

“I think so, there are two DRS zones here, but also even without DRS it should be a good circuit to overtake, it should be definitely possible. Long straights, wide entries, hard stops.”

Regarding his own progress, Vettel said: “It’s Friday, it doesn’t really matter, the top ranking. I think we can be happy. The car felt good, straight from this morning, and it was about getting into the rhythm of the circuit, getting to know the car around here, and that seemed to work quite well. Our long run seemed good. We’ll have to see, it’s still early.”

Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez have both been given three-place grid penalties in India for ignoring double waved yellow flags.

The incidents occurred right at the end of FP1 after Pastor Maldonado had stopped with an engine failure at Turn 16, just before the end of the lap.

Hamilton recorded the fastest lap of the session right at the end, while Perez also did his fastest lap of the morning at that time.

Vitaly Petrov already has a five-place penalty after hitting Michael Schumacher in Korea, so things could get a bit complicated tomorrow afternoon…

Sebastian Vettel has joined the chorus of drivers who have praised the Delhi track after taking a first look around today.

The World Champion expects the track layout to generate overtaking.

“The circuit looks very interesting, very challenging,” he said. “It does have some similarities with Korea in some ways, but then it’s totally different again, especially in some corners you have a pretty wide entrance, which allows us to choose many lines and hopefully makes overtaking easier. But we have to find out.

“Some of the corners look spectacular, like Turn 10, a quite high speed and long duration corner, but you really need to feel it inside the car first of all. We had the possibility in the simulator to get an idea, but it’s different when you are on track.”

Vettel, who visited the Taj Mahal earlier this week, said he’s enjoying the whole India experience.

“I’m thrilled to be here, I’ve heard a lot of things, it’s supposed to be sold out, so that means a lot of people, and it’s always special to us. The moment you jump into the car and look around and see plenty of people, if they’re passionate and enthusiastic about what the drivers do, then our life doesn’t get much better than that.

“So far from what I’ve seen at the circuit, and also outside the circuit, it looks very interesting. The country is interesting, a lot of people – obviously! – it’s very different.”

Vettel said he enjoyed the Taj Mahal road trip as it gave him a chance to see more of the country: “It definitely brings your feet back on the ground in many ways, it makes you understand a lot of things. It’s an inspiration and it makes you appreciate things you take for granted much more.”

Plans for an F1 race on the streets of New Jersey were formally announced today.

To be known as the Grand Prix of America, the race will be held on roads around Port Imperial in the towns of Weehawken and West New York.

The race will run for the first time in June 2013, and as with Austin, there is a 10-year-deal.

The 3.2 mile track, which features some interesting elevation changes, will be built by Hermann Tilke.

As revealed here in August, the man behind the race is TV executive and sometime sportscar racer Leo Hindery.

His father-in-law, legendary US promoter Humpy Wheeler, is also involved.

F1 sponsor UBS is among the companies to have a base in Weehawken.

Austin’s Tavo Hellmund has offered his support: “I want to extend my congratulations to Leo and his team, as I know how much work they have put into making this happen. When I walked the site a few years ago, the site’s potential was obvious. I am excited for the East Coast and feel Tuesday’s announcement is yet another acknowledgement of the viability, fan interest, economic benefits and prestige an F1 Grand Prix event brings to a region.

“New Jersey and Texas, nearly 2,000 miles apart, offer unique and very different fan experiences destined to not only raise the visibility of the sport in this country, but also increase the global attraction and US support of these world-class events. These two regions are going to be terrific backdrops for the world’s most advanced form of racing.”

For more background see my story of August 3:

Second US GP destined for New Jersey?

Plans have been announced for a race circuit in Mumbai which will “meet the highest level of Grand Prix standards.”

No site has been identified and the project is still at the planning stage, but it appears to be a serious effort by a consortium compromised of Capita Symonds, Populous and DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System Ltd).

Capita Symonds and Populous have been involved in projects such as the 2012 Olympic Stadium, Wembley, and the rejuvenation of Silverstone.

Those behind the project make it clear that it will be of F1 standard but it remains to be seen if they have any chance of one day wresting the race away from Delhi. However they also say that they are working with the FIM so perhaps a two-wheeled event is a more likely short term target.

A statement today said: “Initially the consortium’s scope of work is to identify the potential location for the circuit and associated development in Mumbai and around the city. This will be followed by the development of a business case and plan that will assess market demand and the potential opportunities and risks for the sites. The team will prepare a Vision Plan, Commercial Feasibility Study, a detail Conceptual Masterplan, and a PPP Concession Contract to deliver the Mumbai F1 development.

“Comprehensive analysis and assessments will be undertaken considering long term financial, social and environmental viability. This viability will be achieved in part through the creation of a mixed use community comprising commercial, retail, leisure and residential properties that will be centred around the circuit complex providing a year round focus for the development. Issues such as accessibility, traffic management, sustainable transport links and infrastructure gap assessments will also be addressed.”

Jerry Muscroft of Capita Symonds said: “Our appointment reflects the consortium’s growing strength in masterplanning, transportation and design of some of the world’s leading motor racing circuits and regeneration projects.

“The consortium understands how large sporting projects can be ‘Urban Generators’ that enhance and encourage development. We will lead the way with sports master-planning and sports community generation, and appreciate how considered designs can create significant value to neighbouring areas and communities.

“We are committed to delivering the next generation of racing circuits, with great racing, over-taking, world class facilities and architecture; but above all the intention is to create a sustainable venue that will not need continuous financial support, and will facilitate investment and re-generation.”

India is likely to be the most challenging race for Pirelli this far this year, given the lack of available data.

That’s why the company chose some time ago to take its soft and hard tyres, to allow for a high degree of flexibility. The soft will be the prime, which allows drivers to have an extra set on Friday.

Indeed the soft is likely to be the tyre of choice for most of the race, given the likely difference in lap times, so as in Germany we could see some very late pit stops.

“We’ve opted for a deliberately conservative nomination in selecting the hard tyre alongside the soft, simply because on a brand new circuit you are never quite sure of the exact race conditions you will encounter,” said Paul Hembery in a Pirelli preview today.

“But we’ve structured the allocation in such a way that we think the teams will run more on the softer tyres, particularly because we are bringing an extra set of soft compound tyres for Friday.

“This will help us to make some decisions about our strategy for next year, particularly after we saw the excellent durability of the softer compounds. It’s too early to talk about the number of pit stops we expect this weekend, but we anticipate a reasonably significant lap time difference between the two compounds.”

Narain Karthikeyan makes some interesting observations about the track.

“The texture of the tarmac is exceptionally smooth compared to most circuits on the calendar, so I think that’s a plus,” said Karthikeyan. “The lap time difference between the hard and soft tyres is going to be huge, maybe in excess of two seconds a lap.

“I’d expect the teams to use the hard as less as possible – maybe just a short final stint in the race as the benefits in lap time produced by the soft tyre should outweigh its shorter life as the track surface isn’t abrasive at all, and track temperatures I think should be under 40 degrees during the weekend.

“The long pit lane (600m) will play a part in strategy as well with teams trying to get through the race with as few stops as possible. The layout itself is going to put tremendous energy through the tyres – especially the banked Turn 10, which is a long, multiple-apex right-hander, somewhat similar to Turn 8 in Turkey.

“The front-left will definitely experience a lot of load through there – and there are a couple of slow speed corners that will challenge the rears on exit. So overall it will be a great challenge for the tyres and it’ll be interesting to see how it pans out.”

Tony Fernandes has denied a report that suggests Team Lotus is about to receive new investment from India.

The country’s Economic Times said today that Gaurav Burman, whose family owns consumer goods company Dabur India, is buying a 10% stake in the team, valued at $10m.

Sources, claimed to be “executives with direct knowledge of this development,”  apparently told the paper that this will increase to 50% in the next two or three years.

However contacted by this blog Fernandes said: “I’ve never heard of him. I have no idea what they are talking about.”

London-based Burman is a director of private equity firm Elephant Capital plc, president of US-based Atlas Acquisitions, and is also an investor in IPL cricket team Kings XI Punjab. He previously worked at Dresdner Kleinwort Capital in New York.

If nothing else the story suggests that in the light of Sahara’s investment in Force India interest in the sport is growing.