Zoom Formula One the aim for di Grassi in 2009

Lucas di Grassi arrived late for the 2008 GP2 series but still finished third in the standings behind Giorgio Pantano and Bruno Senna and ahead of Romain Grosjean. Under the wing of Renault, the Brazilian is hoping he gets the chance to race at the highest level in 2009.

“If Nelson goes away, maybe I'll have a possibility,” di Grassi told 422race.com. “Now we have to wait for Fernando and Nelson to decide. It doesn't depend on me, but on Flavio (Briatore) and on the Renault team.”

“I want to do my job, which is to win races and do good testing, then we will see,” he explained. “Renault still hasn't told me anything. They are happy about my GP2 results, much more than last year, but still they didn't speak about next year."

Renault also has fellow GP2 driver Grosjean under contract and the Frenchman has tested for the team this summer. However, Di Grassi doesn’t see Grosjean as a particular threat to his Formula One ambitions.

"It wasn't a battle, because we are almost at the same point,” di Grassi said. “He is Renault test driver as I am, this year we made the same amount of test days, he is in the team where I was next year... He, just as the other 24 GP2 drivers, is my rival, because we all want to arrive in Formula One, but I wasn't focussed particularly on him. It doesn't change much to arrive in front of me."

E.A. © CAPSIS International