Romain Grosjean believes that the Haas F1 Team were not alone in struggling to get their tyres in the optimal working range in Singapore on Friday.
Grosjean managed to make the top ten in both the afternoon and evening sessions, recording the seventh fastest time in Free Practice 2 and completing 54 laps throughout the course of the two sessions. The Frenchman’s time of a 1 minute 40.384 seconds was 1.6 seconds adrift of fastest man, Kimi Räikkönen.
The 32-year-old complained of mild understeer on the ultra-softs, but noticed a positive difference in stability on the pink-walled hyper-soft tyres, the softest compound Pirelli Motorsport have produced for 2018.
“It was all right this evening,” Grosjean reflected. “We were better than we were in the afternoon, which is always a good sign.
“There are a lot of things we can still improve on the car, as always on a street circuit.”
The Marina Bay Street Circuit underwent resurfacing and realignment in preparation for the 2018 race. New tarmac at Turns one, five-seven, 15 and 17 made finding tyre performance difficult for all teams.
Grosjean noted that the performance gap between the softest and the hardest compound brought to the weekend is noticeable and requires the car to be setup in order to maximise all variations.
He continued by suggesting that Haas know where to improve in the run-up to tomorrow’s qualifying session, but states that he was content with their Friday performance.
“I think it’s difficult for everyone getting the tyres to work,” Grosjean said.
“Hyper-softs to softs is quite a big difference. We just need to make sure we’re good on every compound. The car felt okay, but there are a few more things we can do to get a bit faster.
“That said, I’m happy where we are.”
