After a disappointing result around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve last weekend, Romain Grosjean heads to Azerbaijan for the European Grand Prix looking to return to the points.
The Haas F1 Team driver had been in contention for a top ten finish in Canada before a broken front wing saw him forced to pit to drop him ultimately down to fourteenth, but now heads to the all-new Baku Street Circuit eager to get to work to learn the circuit onboard his VF-16.
While feeling that the use of a simulator can be beneficial, Grosjean says that it is not the same as getting on board the car and tasting the circuit for the first time.
“We had a session on the simulator, and that’s about everything you can do,” said Grosjean. “The simulators are getting better year after year, but it’s still not a real racecar.
“There’s a lot you can do with a simulator, which is great, but nothing is as good as being in the car out on track. On the simulator, you can try a few different set-up ideas for direction.
“You can also try different philosophies and updates you’d like to try on the car later in the year and before you prepare them for actual racing.”
Despite Baku being new for everyone, Grosjean still feels that as a new team, the Haas team will still be on the back foot this weekend as the Frenchman believes established teams will be better prepared for new tracks.
“The more experience you have as a team, the better prepared you are for new tracks and different layouts,” said Grosjean. “On the other hand, no one knows what to expect from Baku, so that’s going to be interesting for us.
“It’s going to be very interesting to go to Baku. It’s certainly a circuit that’s very different from everything we’ve been used to. We’ll have to see how it goes in real life.”
