Romain Grosjean believes if the car is good in qualifying, then it will be strong enough in race trim at the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix.
The Frenchman has scored points on three previous trips to the Shanghai International Circuit but eleventh is his best place with the Haas F1 Team.
“Shanghai is a tricky track because it’s very different from the early stages in the year.” Said Grosjean. “It’s a front-limited circuit, meaning that the car needs to work well with front tires.
“If it doesn’t, then it gets very tricky.”
A big debate that has been in the news recently has been the argument that it is tough to overtake but Grosjean knows that there are chances in China to overtake.
“Overtaking in Shanghai is not impossible. There’s the long backstraight with DRS helping overtaking manoeuvres.
“In general, if the car is good in qualifying, the race should be quite good. If not, then in the race you’re going to struggle.
“If you qualify in the top 10, you should finish in the top 10.”
China also sees Pirelli not bring the supersoft with the tyre company opting to jump from ultrasoft to soft in a move which could bring about some interesting strategic decisions.
“I guess it’s going to open strategies, especially if there’s quite a lot of degradation on the ultrasofts.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do. In China, the weather can be challenging – it can be cold or hot. A lot will depend on that.”