Romain Grosjean admits the opening day of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend did not go all to plan for the Haas F1 Team, with the Frenchman struggling to find confidence in his VF-19 around the Baku City Circuit.
Grosjean was one of eighteen drivers not to set a time in first practice after George Russell’s session-ending crash after hitting a loose manhole cover, and he had hoped for the second session to be extended to compensate the lost time.
However, this was not to be, and through the red and yellow flags of a crash-filled second session, Grosjean ended down in sixteenth position. He feels there is work to be done and the hope remains for Haas’ unbroken run of Q3 appearances in 2019 continue on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s always challenging in Baku,” said Grosjean, who was more than six-tenths of a second adrift of team-mate Kevin Magnussen in free practice two. “I didn’t quite get the confidence in the car that I wanted, so there’s work to be done for tomorrow.
“The track was quite dirty as well, so all-in-all it’s quite complicated. It’s a good challenge, but it would have been nice to get a two-hour session and an extra set of tyres for this afternoon, it would have helped us get a bit more running and more understanding.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow, especially qualifying, and then as always the race on Sunday. We’re working in the right direction.”
