« If it were that easy, everyone could race in Formula 1 »: Romain Grosjean fights back!
Put in the pillory, the Haas driver downplays the situation and criticizes the media frenzy surrounding him.
The irritation is contained but noticeable. A few hours before the Monaco meeting, the sixth of the season, Romain Grosjean still hasn’t scored a single point. Unfortunate, especially in light of his latest retirement in Barcelona, which has been widely discussed. So, no need to point it out to him, the Haas driver is well aware that he is experiencing a turbulent season.
“It’s certain that this is not the best period of my career,” he illustrates in front of the French journalists who came to meet him in the Principality. But very quickly, the 32-year-old driver pulls himself together.
« I lower my head and grit my teeth. I have 130 Grand Prix, it’s not because two races didn’t go as planned that we should forget everything else. »
Here, everything else corresponds to 10 podiums for Lotus and other highlights for the Haas F1 Team. A past snubbed by Formula 1 followers, according to the driver, highly illustrative of media amplification.
« What made me laugh after Barcelona were the opinions of some, including the English media, who constantly point fingers. There’s not much I can do about the early season races. In Baku, I made a rare and stupid mistake, and in Spain, I was just trying to avoid my teammate. There’s no point dwelling on that! »
« People are making a mountain out of a molehill!
To clear his mind, the director of the GPDA (Editor’s note: the drivers’ association) could count on the support of a certain Jean Alesi, who insisted on speaking with him over the phone. For their part, the Haas team also did not let him go:
« The team’s mentality is very positive. When we make a mistake, we quickly move on. With Günther (note: Steiner, team principal of the Haas F1 Team) we just talked about the incident for three minutes.
Now, Romain Grosjean looks to the future and this urban round. The start of the season for Kevin Magnussen, his teammate, ninth with 19 points, is encouraging.
« The car has been good everywhere since the start of the season, I hope it will be the same here. I am aiming for the best qualification, we will qualify three places higher than what was planned » he said, referring to his penalty received after Barcelona.
In general, the Haas F1 Team has a very promising potential at the start of the season, as evidenced by Magnussen’s recent sixth place in Barcelona. All this with limited resources: major upgrades on the car are still to come. Now it’s up to Romain Grosjean to meet expectations… just to silence the critics.
« Currently, we are the fourth force on the field. »
Join @RGrosjean as he 💭 back on the 2017 #MonacoGP! pic.twitter.com/NaSE5Gz81v
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) 23 mai 2018
From our special correspondent in Monaco
