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Lotus's Romain Grosjean admits he "needed help" after his 2012 crash streak and believes ongoing work with a psychologist plus fatherhood have helped him develop as a Formula 1 driver.

The Frenchman was involved in seven first-lap accidents during the 2012 season and received a ban from the Italian Grand Prix after causing a first-corner pile-up at the previous race in Belgium.

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He subsequently improved to become a regular podium finisher in 2013 before Lotus's form declined.

Grosjean told AUTOSPORT: "I wanted to see my psychologist, I needed some help. I didn't understand what was going on.

"If you work in the right way you realise, you understand and you put it in action and then you see that it was better and then you take the next step and then you get more and more.

"It's like having a tool box containing only a screwdriver and you add another tool.

"When a situation comes there's always a tool in front of you and you can take the right one, whereas before you only had one and then you screw up."

Grosjean continues to speak to his psychologist, the two conversing via Skype when the Frenchman is at races, with the subjects discussed wide-ranging.

"We talk about anything," he said. "It can be childhood, it can be race starts, it can be rumours, it can be problems back home, it can be sleeping.

"You chat and whenever something comes out she sees if something is blocked so she can push me a little bit in that direction to help me fix and realise it.

"It's up to you to understand what's blocked, what's blocking you and then she helps you to fix what's blocking you and put it in action."

Two-and-a-half years after that troubled 2012 season, Grosjean believes the work his psychologist has made a big difference to him not only as a racing driver but also a person and a father.

"If you come to a racetrack with a problem in your mind from home, you get in the car and you explode," he said.

"If everything is clear and solved then you can take things more carefully and with better vision and you react better so it's all related.

"It has made me a better driver, a better dad, a better husband, hopefully, and just a better man in general."