Haas F1 Team driver Romain Grosjean was pleased to score points at the Singapore Grand Prix, having not felt like a top ten result would be possible following a tough time in the practice and qualifying sessions, on Friday and Saturday.
“I’m very happy for all of us, especially after a difficult weekend where we knew we didn’t really have the pace.”
The Frenchman’s strategy to take the intermediate tyres at the start of the race, due to the wet conditions, turned out to be the right move, and that helped the 31-year-old to make his way up the order initially, although the Haas driver felt he maybe stayed out a little too long before bolting on the slicks.
“We chose to start on intermediates, which was ballsy. It was tricky, initially. After everyone pitted, it was the right tyre to be on, so I was pretty happy with my choice.
“We swapped to the slicks maybe one lap too late. I think Kevin did a better job than I did in pitting for the ultra-softs. From there I had a strong battle.”
Grosjean made his way through to ninth place however, and although he fought hard for eighth spot with Williams Martini Racing driver Lance Stroll towards the end of the grand prix, the Frenchman was unable to find a way by the Canadian.
The result was a pleasing one for the 31-year-old however, considering the tough conditions the race started out in, and the difficulties the team had experienced throughout the weekend.
“I tried to go for (Lance) Stroll. He hit the wall once and I thought that was it, but it wasn’t hard enough to get any damage, so he kept going and didn’t make any other mistakes, so I couldn’t pass.
“Mentally it was a tough race. The conditions were horrendous, initially. You couldn’t see anything. I’m very happy we’ve scored points here.”
