Whereas Kevin Magnussen was able to make it through to the top ten shootout at the Bahrain International Circuit, team-mate Romain Grosjean was not as a fortunate, finding himself on the wrong side of the cut off point in the first phase of Qualifying.
The Haas F1 Team racer set an identical time of 1:30.530s to that of Fernando Alonso, but because of the Spaniard setting the time first, the McLaren F1 Team racer progressed into the second phase, while Grosjean missed out and will start the Bahrain Grand Prix from sixteenth position.
Grosjean admits he is baffled to have been so far off the pace, particularly as he started sixth on the grid for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with a distinct lack of grip during both of his scruffy Q1 laps.
“I don’t really know what happened,” said Grosjean, who will share row eight with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. “We had a very difficult out lap with a lot of traffic and just no grip. There’s not much to say except that I had very little grip and couldn’t do any better.
“We need to understand that, but I’m disappointed. We made a lot of changes last night, so I’m hoping that will pay off for our race pace tomorrow.”
