On a historic day for the Haas F1 Team, Romain Grosjean secured an improbable top six finish at Albert Park, taking eight points on the American team’s Formula 1 debut on Sunday.
After feeling he was unlucky during qualifying on Saturday that left him down in nineteenth position on the grid, the luck came to the Frenchman on Sunday, as he capitalised on the red flag period to change his tyres and jump into a points paying position, and then moved up to sixth when others made pit stops, and then held the position until the chequered flag.
Grosjean was delighted with the result, and felt the team showed good pace to keep the likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas behind him for a good proportion of the Grand Prix.
“A very good day at the office,” said Grosjean. “This feels like a win. For all the guys who worked so hard over the last few weeks, this is unbelievable.
“We were unlucky yesterday, but got a bit lucky today with the red flag. Still, we were able to hold off the Williams (Bottas) and the Force India (Hulkenberg).
“We didn’t have much set-up (time) on the car. It was a case of, off you go and see what happens. This is an unbelievable feeling. The guys did an amazing job and I told them, this is like a win for all of us. First race and here we are, P6. A happy day.”
