Romain Grosjean was left downbeat after finding himself eliminated in the opening segment of Qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix as his Haas F1 Team once again struggled for performance at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Much like in 2017, the team has been on the back foot throughout the weekend and although Grosjean was less than a tenth of a second from getting into Q2, he found himself on the wrong side of the cut-off point when the chequered flag fell.
Haas has been competitive everywhere else in 2018 and Grosjean hopes that when they return to the track in 2019, they can unlock the secret to being quick in Mexico.
“We got better, but not enough,” said Grosjean, who will start eighteenth on the grid once his three-place grid penalty from the United States Grand Prix is applied. “The midfield is just super tight, with two tenths the difference to P10.
“Three runs in Q1 on the Hypersofts – to maximize our chances – just didn’t work. We need to analyze what we can do better and why we’re just not good here. There’s obviously something that happens here at this circuit.
“We’ve been competitive everywhere this year, but here, every year, it’s complicated. We’re not giving up. It’s a tough race for the engines, brakes, drivers, everything. Hopefully we can get it good tomorrow.”
Grosjean’s team-mate Kevin Magnussen also found himself out in Q1, and team principal Guenther Steiner feels the inability to get the best out of the Pirelli tyres has been their major problem all weekend long.
“It was a tough day,” said Steiner. “We couldn’t get the tyres to work, but everybody else did.
“Tomorrow there will be different tyre strategies, so maybe we can still move forward, but points will be difficult.”
