F1: Grosjean Reflects on Poor Start to the Season

French F1 driver, Romain Grosjean is one of the most reliable drivers on the grid. His time at Lotus earned him 10 podiums while his brilliant overtaking manoeuvre on Lance Stroll at the Abu Dhabi GP last season was a treat to watch. But he looks a shadow of that driver this season as he has failed to score any points so far in five races in 2018.

And the Haas driver had no qualms in admitting his luckless start. “It’s been a tough series recently, with tough luck. Obviously, yes, it’s a shame when your race ends on the first lap, but it does happen sometimes,” said Grosjean.

All of Haas’ points this season have come through the no.20 car of his teammate Kevin Magnussen. The Danish driver has been the ‘best of the rest’ in most of the races this year and Grosjean praised his teammate, “It was really good to see that Kevin had a good race and that the pace was there. The most important thing was that Kevin was fast.”

Grosjean was also upbeat about the rest of the season. “We’ve got 16 races to go. There’s a lot more races. The car is fast at a lot of circuits. I’m very much looking forward to the next race.”

“We went testing and I had a good feeling in the car”, added Grosjean.

The next race for the F1 juggernaut is the iconic Monaco Grand Prix, where the narrow streets warrants good track position. But Grosjean’s three-place grid penalty already puts him at a disadvantage. And he was rightly disappointed.

“It’s probably one of the worst races to get a penalty. It is what it is. We’ve got to live with it. Our strategy will be to qualify as high as we can and move from there.”

“I do remember Monaco in 1996 when Olivier Panis won. He was the last Frenchman to win a Grand Prix. He started 14 and was one of only three cars to cross the finish. Of course the history of Monaco and all the racing cars and the changes to the circuit- we love it because Monaco is Monaco”, Grosjean signed off.