Romain Grosjean is on standby to replace Nelson Piquet at Renault for the European Grand Prix should the team overturn its exclusion from the next event on the calendar.
Renault is facing an FIA International Court of Appeal hearing in Paris on Monday against its one-race ban for allowing Fernando Alonso to return to the track at the Hungarian Grand Prix with his front right wheel not fully attached.
Until the outcome of that hearing is known, Renault is unable to confirm its plans for the next race – even though it has already informed Nelson Piquet that he will not drive for them anymore. Grosjean currently lies second in the GP2 standings behind Nico Hulkenberg.
Should Renault succeed in having the punishment reduced, perhaps to a major fine, then Grosjean is top of the list to be slotted in alongside Fernando Alonso from the European GP.
AUTOSPORT reports that Grosjean has already had a seat-fitting at Renault's Enstone factory for the R29, and has conducted practice starts during straight line testing.
Piquet's departure from Renault came after a disappointing second season for the team, where he failed to score any points up until the Hungarian GP. After being informed that he had been dropped, Piquet launched a scathing attack on team boss Flavio Briatore – who he labeled as his "executioner" in a statement.
Plans are already underway for Grosjean to be replaced at the Barwa Addax team in GP2.