Formula 1

Romain Grosjean: “Generally, the car feels pretty good”

1 Mins read
Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd.

Romain Grosjean is confident that the Haas F1 Team can find even more pace throughout the Spanish Grand Prix weekend as they look to turn their fortunes around after a tough start to 2018.

Grosjean completed 48 laps in total on Friday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, split evenly between Free Practice 1 and 2, finishing eighth and seventh in the respective sessions. However, the Frenchman saw his afternoon running stunted by an early spin into the gravel at the devious Turn 7, the site of many wind related excursions throughout the field.

The 32-year-old said that the high winds around the circuit made finding the right balance “tricky”.

“It was an okay day,” said Grosjean. “It was pretty good in terms of performance and classification.

“It was tricky with the wind, but we’ve been working with different setups – some are more positive, others a bit trickier.”

Haas have endured a testing start to an otherwise promising campaign, with inconsistency blighting the potential of the VF-18. Grosjean – one of only two drivers yet to score a point this season – believes that the American constructor can extract more from their car, highlighting the car’s behaviour on corner entry as a notable weakness as shown by his spin.

“Generally, the car feels pretty good,” he added. “I’m hopeful we’re going to make it even better for tomorrow and be able to go a bit faster.

“We’re looking into what we can do, and we’ve got some ideas. We tried some things that we’ve never tried before – they worked in some aspects, but not in others. We’ll change those and make sure the car’s a bit easier on the entry into the corners to be able to push a bit more.”

Team principal Guenther Steiner remarked on a “fantastic job” by the team, suggesting that a top ten Qualifying position could be within reach.

“We had two good sessions, but not completely trouble-free,” Steiner said.

“Romain went off at the beginning of FP2, but we recovered the car and we got it ready to go out again. Everyone did a fantastic job. We’ve learned a lot and now we’re ready for tomorrow.”

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DTM, Formula 1 writer and deputy editor for The Checkered Flag. Autosport Academy member and freelance voice over artist.
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