The Small Picture
The story of the race this weekend has to go to Romain Grosjean. Like Hulkenberg in my previous "small picture" segments, who as continued to shine in Japan, Grosjean has really delivered in the last two races to take third place in Korea and Japan. At Japan this weekend, he did it after a great start and a confident, controlled lead of the race for the first stint ahead of both Red Bull's. Even under pressure from both he kept his head, and while his car wasn't fast enough to fend them off he kept himself calm and didn't do anything stupid, bringing it home for an important points finish, ahead of Alonso's Ferrari by a big margin. A year ago this would have been unthinkable, with his rash and reckless approach, particularly during the first lap that resulted in him getting a one-race ban and arguably costing Fernando Alonso the world championship. After a slow start to this season, where he seemed to have traded pace for safety as he kept out of trouble, there were plenty of doubts as to whether he'd even see the end of the season with Lotus, let alone a podium. But now he seems to have come on strong, and at the right time, with a fluctuating and competitive driver market making good seats hard to come by. This race may just have done enough to secure his 2014 race seat with Lotus; no mean feat with so many other talented drivers waiting in the wings for such an opportunity.