SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

Grosjean poorly, Di Grassi hopeful

Renault F1 driver Romain Grosjean may be sidelined today because of food poisoning. The Franco-Swiss driver appeared briefly in the paddock on Thursday with his girlfriend French TV presenter Marion Jolles, but then disappeared off to his hotel hoping to be well enough to take part in practice on Friday evening. The beleaguered Renault team has its second test driver Lucas di Grassi in Singapore and on Thursday afternoon he was spotted doing the FIA five second test, to show that he could get out of the car in under five seconds. A decision about Grosjean will be taken this afternoon. Di Grassi is from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and has spent four full seasons in GP2 with Durango, ART, Campos and Racing Engineering. He finished runner-up to Timo Glock in 2007 and has been third in both 2008 and 2009. He has won a total of five races. Prior to that he finished third in the Formula 3 Euroseries, behind the dominant ASM duo Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil.