It wasn’t the home race that the Haas F1 Team had been hoping for at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas, with Romain Grosjean finishing in fourteenth, one place ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen.
Grosjean struggled in the last part of the race with tyre degradation, but at one point had been battling as high as ninth. Once Felipe Massa passed him, he quickly dropped back down the order.
The Frenchman felt as though the car was lacking for pace throughout the weekend too. He started twelfth on the grid, but was promoted to this place after a raft of engine penalties meant several faster cars started the race behind him. He did out-qualify Magnussen, who had a torrid weekend, failing to make it out of Q1 and receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez.
“Not much pace in the car, and massive tire degradation on my front-left tyre,” commented Grosjean. “I was trying to hang in there, but the last few laps I felt it was pretty dangerous.”
The drivers were popular amongst the American fans, visiting ‘Haas Hill’ before the race.
“Off track, the weekend’s been great with the fans. I’m very sorry we couldn’t put on a better show from the team.”
The team now head straight to Mexico for next weekend’s race, where they are hoping to have a more successful showing.
“We’re all going to work hard,” insisted Grosjean. “We know Mexico was tough on us last year but, hopefully, we find some solutions.
“We’re going to work hard, but right now it’s disappointing not to put on a better show at home.”
