Newly-signed to Haas, Romain Grosjean admits he wanted to drive for Renault.

The Frenchman, confirmed as lead driver for Haas on Tuesday, has spent his entire F1 career with the Enstone outfit, first taking over from disgraced Nelson Piquet Jr in late 2009, subsequently returning in 2012, having won the GP2, GP2 Asia and Auto GP series titles in the intervening years.

With the future of Lotus increasingly under threat and Renault dithering as to whether it would step in, time was running out. Consequently, with the added incentive of a link to Ferrari, the Frenchman accepted Haas' offer.

However, talking to the BBC World Service, he admits that had Renault made a move he would have stayed.

"I was the first one who wanted to be part of the Renault project. If they had come earlier I would have stayed," he said.

"But I met with Haas, they made an approach and it was attractive," he continued. "The fact that Haas is close to Ferrari made it very appealing, not because I'm thinking about Ferrari in one, two or three years, but it does bring me closer for sure. They'll look at what we do. The better job I do there the better chance I have of getting a seat with Ferrari one day."