Grosjean quite frustrated after Japanese Grand Prix

F1 News – Romain Grosjean says he was massively frustrated with only picking up 11th in the Japanese Grand Prix after “one of the best drives” of his Formula 1 career.

Haas driver Grosjean had started the race in seventh but slipped down to ninth on the opening lap – and, running on a two-stop strategy, ended up finishing just behind the one-stopping Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

“I think I’ve never been as frustrated as today at the end of a race, because the pace of the car – I was much faster than the Williams,” Grosjean said.

“We just got the life of the hard tyre wrong, we could’ve pitted earlier on the last stint – but the pace was amazing.”

Grosjean said that his Haas VF-16 car had a difficult time with softs in the opening stint, but was “flying” on the two subsequent stints on hard tyres.

“I lost a bit of ground into Turn 1, with [Nico] Hulkenberg just coming in front of me, I almost crashed into him, it was very close.

“I think we struggled in the first stint with the green track and the softs, there was a lot of graining. But then the car was flying. It was really good, I had some great overtaking.

“A lot of promise for the future, it’s so bloody annoying being that close but I couldn’t do anything.

“Honestly, it’s one of the best drives of my career and for no points.”

After a weekend where both its cars made Q3 for the first time, Haas left the grand prix with no points – and Grosjean insisted his team deserved better.

“We didn’t deserve that, honestly. We don’t deserve 11th.

“I’m really, really frustrated about the result, but so optimistic about the updates we’ve brought and the pace we’ve had in the car.”

Category: Formula One