Romain Grosjean qualified thirteenth for the British Grand Prix on Saturday, and felt that without the change in wind conditions towards the end of Q2 that a first appearance of the season in Q3 could have been possible.
The Haas F1 Team driver had been inside the top ten after the first runs at Silverstone, but was unable to improve his time enough to stay there, as other drivers found more time in the closing stages of the session.
Grosjean is not too disappointed with his qualifying spot, and feels they could be in contention for a points finish on Sunday, which if he does make it into the top ten would be his fifth trip into the points in 2016.
“I think the top-10 for us is sometimes a bit optimistic in qualifying,” said Grosjean. “We’re always better in the race. In qualifying, we’re still missing a few things that we can improve, but it takes a bit of time. We had added a bit of front flap. It was maybe a bit too much.
“The conditions out there were also tricky today. The wind picked up a little bit at the end. It caused me a big snap into turn 15 (Stowe). The wind can really change the balance of the car here, depending on the direction. If we hadn’t had that, then we could’ve been closer to moving into Q3.
“Thirteenth for tomorrow is not the worst place to start the race. If our long-run pace is good, that should help us.”