Lotus needs more staff - Grosjean

Mar.22 (GMM) Lotus needs to recruit staff following a disastrous start to the 2014 season, team driver Romain Grosjean says.

Although competitive, the Enstone based team had a dire end to the 2013 season amid obvious financial difficulties, losing Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari and later boss Eric Boullier to McLaren.

But there are no longer any reports of financial difficulty, after Pastor Maldonado and his PDVSA millions arrived, and reportedly 100 staff were shed.

Frenchman Grosjean said he supports the changes.

"Things have stabilised and the atmosphere in the team is pretty good," he told the French-language F1i.

"All of the problems of last year are now behind us," Grosjean added.

Technically, however, Lotus is in the midst of a disastrous early 2014, as although the Renault-powered E22 is innovative, it is severely lacking in pace and reliability.

Grosjean thinks the team needs some more staff.

"We definitely need to recruit some people to support the smaller team," he said, "but overall things are positive."