British Grand Prix – Haas’ Romain Grosjean says he and the Haas team haven’t enjoyed a good weekend of racing in some time as they continue to struggle with the tyres.
Haas have been one of the surprises of 2019, albeit in a way that team boss Guenther Steiner described as being ‘negatively amazing’. After consistently running at the forefront of the midfield in 2018, Haas’ outright single lap pace still seems to be strong but, on race day, the team struggles to keep the tyres alive and the drivers fade away. This was evidenced most strongly last time out, in Austria, when Kevin Magnussen qualified a stellar P5 (starting P10) but faded away to finish P19 by the chequered flag. Grosjean started P11 and finished P16.
“We haven’t really had a good weekend, in total, for a long time.” said Romain Grosjean ahead of this weekend’s race at Silverstone.
“Our race pace in Friday practice these last few weekends hasn’t really been amazing. Unfortunately, things then get confirmed in the race. The thing is to have a car that’s fast in the qualifying sim and on the long runs so we have something we can work with going into the race and feel confident. That hasn’t been the case in the last two races, and every time we’ve gone into a race, I’ve had the feeling that it’s going to be complicated and, unfortunately, it has been.”
Grosjean says that the situation, while trying for everyone involved with the team as they try to figure out their issues with race pace, is one that has unified the team: “Everyone is working very hard. Obviously, it’s not a situation that anyone’s happy with. We want to make it better, we want to do better. So yes, everyone is motivated. We’re all working together. We’re all a part of it, from drivers and engineers to the mechanics and the team principal. It’s the first time in four years we’ve found ourselves in this situation, but it happens to every single team. We will get there.”
