Grosjean needs to calm down

Chris Cameron-Dow is a sports journalist and amateur racing driver. Chris blogs at Chrisonf1.com and tweets as @chrisonf1.

June 6th, 2012 (F1plus / Chris Cameron-Dow).- Romain Grosjean is a very exciting talent in Formula One. The young Frenchman destroyed all competition in GP2 last year, and has been blindingly quick in Formula One so far this season. However, three non-finishes have cost him valuable points, and he is only eighth in the championship, 16 points behind his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Grosjean qualified an impressive third for the Australian Grand Prix, but made a poor start and then crashed out in the early stages while defending vigorously. In Malaysia, early contact with Michael Schumacher was followed by a spin which put Grosjean in the gravel and out of the race. His last race in Monaco didn't even last a corner, as contact with Alonso and Schumacher after another slow start resulted in a broken rear suspension.

Three DNFs out of six races means he has lost out on a substantial haul of points. If he had finished every race at his current average of points per finish, he would currently be fourth in the standings on 70 points, just six points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso.

If Grosjean can keep his nose clean, he has shown that he has the pace to compete at the front. All that is required is a measure of patience to stay out of trouble early on in the races.