Romain Grosjean still sees a lot of potential within the Haas F1 Team, with the Frenchman delighted with the progress the team has made in 2018, even though his own results have not been as strong as he had hoped they would be.
The team sit fifth in the Constructors’ Championship heading into this weekend’s German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring, with Renault Sport Formula One Team’s Nico Hülkenberg saying that Haas are the biggest threat to their fourth place in the remainder of the season.
Grosjean has twelve of Haas’ fifty-one points so far in 2018, with the rest being scored by team-mate Kevin Magnussen, but plenty more have passed them by, including a possible two-car top six finish in the Australian Grand Prix, and it is pleasing for the Frenchman that they seem to be strong on many different types of circuit this year.
“The potential of the team is big,” said Grosjean. “That’s what I’ve been saying for a long time. This year, we’ve shown that we’re capable of being fast at most of the tracks, and it’s been really promising.
“It’s good news and it’s been a good effort from everyone on the team. Barcelona, Paul Ricard, Red Bull Ring, Silverstone – they’re all places where we’ve been really strong at different types of circuits.
“The team has made a lot of progress. The potential has been there since day one. We’re ready for more.”
Grosjean insists his performances can improve, and he sees no reason why Haas cannot challenge and beat Renault for that fourth place, which would be a marked improvement in the teams first two campaigns, where they finished eighth both seasons.
The fifty-one points they have scored has already surpassed their best season so far, which came last year when they scored forty-seven points, and there are still eleven races to go.
“We can do even better,” insists the Frenchman. “We can still improve. If you look at the standings, I don’t have many points at the moment, but we will work even harder to make sure we don’t have any more issues. I think we can aim for the fourth position.
“We’ve been good everywhere, except Monaco, to be fair. The latest upgrade we had is a really good step forward. It makes the car better in low speed, as well. I think high speed we’ve got a really good balance.
“It’s a really consistent car with good downforce. In low speed, we know we can improve a little bit more, we know where, but the car is not bad either. I think we could actually be alright in Germany and in Hungary.”
Although Grosjean has fond memories of Hockenheim in days gone past, he knows it is important to arrive there this year and put in a strong performance to aid the team’s fight in the championship standings.
“It actually hasn’t changed at all since those days,” said Grosjean. “It’s always great to visit somewhere with good memories. I won at the circuit in Formula 3, and in Formula Renault 1.6. I won there in the GP2 Series until a post-race penalty dropped me to second.
“Every year is different, though. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past. The important thing is to make it count now.”
