Romain Grosjean will be allowed to start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the back of the grid on Sunday after failing to set a lap time during Qualifying due to a hydraulics problem on his VF-18.
The Haas F1 Team racer ran wide at turn three during his first, and subsequently only, flying lap of the session, but whilst attempting to resume his position on the track he was unable to find a gear, and ultimately the team told him to turn off the car.
“I went straight after a big lockup into the escape road,” said Grosjean. “I reversed – everything was working – and then I suddenly lost the hydraulics.
“I couldn’t do anything else – upshift, downshift, whatever – I was stuck in neutral. It’s a bit of a shame as, unfortunately, that was it.”
Grosjean had hoped to have found some performance gains for the session but was unable to get the opportunity to find out, although it does give him plenty of new tyres available to him for the race that will open up his strategy options.
“Going into qualifying, I was hoping we’d found the right tools,” said Grosjean. “There are overtaking opportunities tomorrow, so we’ll try to do our best.
“It’s definitely a track where a lot can happen, and I’ve got plenty of tyres for the race.”
