Grosjean: “We will make sure the negatives decrease a bit”

Romain Grosjean is present this weekend at Monza, even though he won’t be driving. The French driver was suspended following the first corner accident at Spa. Grosjean reflected on the incident, emphasizing that the most important thing is that no one was injured.

« (The previous days have allowed me) to think about it, yes, but to relive it, no, because we don’t necessarily want to relive that, but rather understand the ins and outs, to tweak the weekends a bit in a certain way, and to come back stronger for the next Grand Prix in Singapore. We can take the situation of Lewis and myself alone on another straight, there wouldn’t have been other cars involved, but it happened at the start. There’s a collision between two cars and eventually, many cars are affected, once again the main thing is that no one was injured, it was impressive and I’m glad that they all came out unscathed, » Grosjean said during a press conference in Monza.

The Frenchman confessed that for him, being present at Monza was normal because he is a full member of the team: « It’s a collective decision, we didn’t question it, neither the team nor I, it seemed quite natural. It’s not the best feeling to be here and not be able to drive but now I’m part of the team, they have given me an extraordinary amount of support this week and today, I’m happy to be here to try to help as much as possible. If Jérôme has any questions, I will gladly answer them. His scoring points for the championship is the main thing. »

Romain Grosjean believes that this different perspective on how a Grand Prix unfolds could even help him for the rest of the season: « I spent both sessions on the pit wall with the engineers, I’ve noted a lot of things I want to try as soon as Singapore, so I’m trying to take the positives, to help the team as much as possible. »

The Frenchman thinks he will learn from his mistake, as he has done in the past: « I think I learn quite well from my mistakes in general, once again, small mistake and big consequences at Spa. In 2009 (at Spa), it was three years ago, I have changed a lot since then, I think I proved it in GP2, I had intelligent races last year, apart from a small mistake at the start in Valencia, where I admitted my mistake, I braked too late, we all make mistakes, end of story. Now, as I said, we will revise the weekend’s program, make some changes to ensure I am better equipped for starts. »

Grosjean also acknowledged being involved in numerous start-line incidents (7), but according to him, that’s not all there is to remember: « There are indeed seven start-line incidents, but it’s not always the same thing; there have been circumstances, there are also three podiums on the other hand, some good qualifying sessions, there’s both positive and negative, as everywhere. We will try to reduce the negative a bit. »

The 2011 GP2 champion also explained that changes would be made in managing a race weekend: “We are going to review a few things, reshape our weekends, focus on different things. We are not starting from scratch, not throwing everything away, as that would be foolish; we will review certain things, like the weekend schedule. We’ve discussed it, now there are also personal reflections, personal analyses, facing oneself to understand, to try to emerge from all this stronger.” Even though, for now, nothing concrete has been decided: “It is still under consideration because first, we needed to understand, analyze, see what we could change, what was possible to do, and then once that is done, we will make a decision for the future.”

Romain Grosjean also mentioned the possibility of helping Kimi Räikkönen in his title fight: « I want to say that we need to be smart, we have a team where politics has no place, which is very pleasant when you’re a driver, so if Kimi wants to become world champion, we must not be stupid, we must play the game. »

From our correspondent in Monza