Romain Grosjean rues gearbox issues

Lotus driver Romain Grosjean has blamed gearbox sensor problems for his grid position for Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Frenchman will start from seventh and believes that time was lost as a result of the issues with his car.

He told reporters: "It's not easy to start from P7 but you never say never and anything is possible.

"After qualifying in India, I wasn't optimistic for the race but I ended up on the podium.

"For sure when you look at the lap time we should have been P3 which would have made things easier."

Grosjean is currently eighth in the drivers' standings, 81 points behind his teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who is fifth on the grid.