Romain Grosjean has said that the Haas F1 Team has “learned a lot” from its second season in Formula 1, a year where they once again couldn’t break into the top seven in the Constructors’ Championship, despite nearly doubling their 2016 points tally.
Grosjean finished just shy of the points in eleventh at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after a feisty early race battle with Williams Martini Racing’s Lance Stroll and said that he left nothing on the track in terms of performance in a “superb drive”.
“I pushed really hard. I tried my best.” said Grosjean. “I think it was a superb drive, but it just wasn’t good enough to get in the points.”
“I tried everything I could. With Stroll it was a good battle – he just had a lot of top speed and a lot of straight-line power. It was very difficult to overtake him and he was defending a lot early on.”
After a bold move on the Canadian, Grosjean tried to maintain his positive momentum, but found that the Haas car did not have the pace to contest the points scorers.
“After I passed him I could open up the gap and push. We had a good race, but we have our ideas where to work on the car for next year.”
Grosjean ended by speaking about “a good year” for the American team, saying that they learnt a lot and have a good idea on where and how to improve in order to make steps up towards the midfield.
“It’s been a good year in general, and only our second in Formula One. We’ve learned a lot and know where to improve for our future.”
Team Principal Guenther Steiner praised the team’s efforts, saying that there was the chance for sixth in the Constructors’ Championship with for a little more luck.
“We didn’t gain a position, but still, we finished eighth like last year.” said Steiner. “With a little bit more we could’ve finished sixth, but ‘if’ and ‘when’, it didn’t happen.”
“We fought to the end today and we provided a lot of the race action. I think for the sport, we did well. We were always providing entertainment.”
“Thanks to everybody, and we’re looking forward to next season.”
