After being forced to change his gearbox in between final practice and qualifying, Romain Grosjean headed into the session knowing he was going to drop five places on the grid no matter what at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, and although qualifying twelfth, he will start seventeenth on Sunday.
The Haas F1 Team driver only completed four laps in practice when he spun into the gravel trap at the Ascari chicane, and he felt his qualifying was compromised as a result as he did not get the practice runs in he needed.
Grosjean was happy to see team-mate Esteban Gutierrez secure a top ten grid slot, but he was disappointed with his own performance, and feels starting seventeenth is far from ideal.
“It was obviously disappointing to go into qualifying knowing I had the five-place grid penalty,” admitted Grosjean. “We paid the price there that we didn’t have any running time this morning.
“I’m not very happy with qualifying. It’s great for Esteban to be out there in Q3. It’s great for the team. For me, I really struggled in qualifying to get the best from the car. With the tire pressures so high, it means you cannot push very hard. It’s a bit of a shame.
“We’ll see what we can achieve tomorrow in the race, but starting 17th is not ideal.”
