Guenther Steiner says Haas never doubted Romain Grosjean’s ability, after he ended a lengthy points drought by taking fourth at Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Grosjean entered the Austrian round of the series having failed to take a point in any of the preceding 12 events, his longest barren run since competing for Lotus in 2014.
That run included crashing out behind the Safety Car in Azerbaijan, triggering a multi-car pile-up on the opening lap in Spain, as well as sliding into the wall while qualifying on home ground in France.
Grosjean finally ended his drought by taking a fine fourth at the Red Bull Ring, capitalising on Haas’ strong pace and the high rate of attrition among the leaders, and Steiner praised the Frenchman.
“He was close a few times and it always slipped away,” said Steiner.
“I guess, we need to keep focused but for sure, it does always to you something.
“We always gave him our confidence, he has been good for us for a long time and we knew he would come back to be the Romain he was last year. I hope this triggers lots and lots of points for Haas F1.”
Steiner added that he never told Grosjean to alter his approach despite the sequence of setbacks earlier in the campaign.
“Emotionally after an event, like what happened in Baku and Barcelona, for sure the emotion straight after the event were very high,” Steiner revealed.
“But he came back to himself very quick, we spoke about it. I said ‘hey, keep doing what you’re doing. It will come to us’.
“Confidence, sure if he would have 50 points now, his confidence would be higher. Now he knows he needs to work hard and he can get points.”
