The Lotus Renault GP team have confirmed that French driver Romain Grosjean will partner new signing Kimi Raikkonen in the 2012 Formula One season, with Russian driver Vitaly Petrov being dropped after two years with the team.
Petrov had been expected to partner Raikkonen, with the Russian holding a contract with the team for next year.However, the team has been weighing up their options for their second seat ever since Petrov's dubious outburst against the team to Russian television last month.
And Grosjean has been selected for the seat, making his F1 return after a dismal and underprepared half a season with Renault back in 2009.
The news means that both Petrov and 2011 Renault driver Bruno Senna now look set to drop off the Formula One grid for 2012.
Speaking about securing the drive, Grosjean said that partnering Raikkonen would be a "great experience", and said that he was looking forward to returning to F1 action.
"I am thrilled to be one of the team's race drivers in 2012," Grosjean grinned eagerly on Friday.
"There's a big grin on my face at the prospect of getting behind the wheel of next year's car, and I feel very privileged to be given this opportunity."
He went on: "To be racing alongside a former world champion and someone who is hungry and returning to Formula 1 will be a great experience, and I'm sure will help raise my level of performance too.
"I feel that my successful season in GP2 Series has helped me mature a lot, and I am a much more complete driver than I was last time I was competing in this sport.
"Returning to Enstone as a race driver feels like coming home. I will not disappoint and I wish to thank all the people without whom this return to F1 would not have been possible.
"Total, which supports me since 2006, and Gravity Sport Management, are first on this list."
Renault team owner Gerard Lopez added that the signing of Grosjean represented another part of the team's rebirth over the off-season, following their disappointing 2011 campaign.
"Only last week I reiterated that the team is at the start of a brand new cycle," he trumpeted, "Announcing Romain as our race driver alongside Kimi is great news and will help us achieve our aims of getting back to the very top.
"The announcements we made today and last week are exciting ones for our team and there is a real buzz surrounding us now."
Team principal Eric Boullier added: "We were impressed when [Grosjean] drove for us in the first practice sessions in Abu Dhabi and Brazil.
"We are confident that drafting him in to one of our driver's seats will help us in our rebuilding process."
He added: "I would like to thank Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna for their contribution to the team's performance this year and I wish them all the best for the future."
Grosjean retured to feeder series racing after being dropped by Renault at the end of 2009, winning the AUto GP crown in 2010 and the GP2 Series this year.
The Renault announcement means that only Force India, Toro Rosso, Williams and HRT are still to confirm their full driver line ups for 2012.
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