Romain Grosjean says the return to Spain's Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona will be an important test for Haas given its current struggles and the fact everyone will be bringing major upgrade packages for what is classed as the first race of the European leg of the season.
Haas have been struggling with their tyres in the opening four races, but it's a problem the team didn't witness during pre-season testing in Barcelona, which led to them ranking highly in people's expectations ahead of 2019. The team however sits a lowly eighth with just eight points.
Although Grosjean isn't too concerned about their tyre struggles in Barcelona, given the nature of the circuit, he believes it's important they replicate what they saw in pre-season testing.
"At the minute the most important thing for us is to get the race pace back," said the Frenchman. "We need to get the car where it should be.
"The last three weekends haven’t been good for us. The car’s got a lot more potential than we’ve been able to extract. The most important element is not the result. It’s to understand how to make the car go faster.
"It’s important to go back to Barcelona because it’s our first European race and we’re bringing big updates on the car. It’s a track with high energy, so I’m not too worried about getting the tyres to work, in theory.
"It’s interesting, as we definitely got them to work in winter testing, going back there and seeing if we can still get them to work will be a good test, because we know the car should be fast there."
With all the teams likely bringing major upgrade packages, Grosjean says it's important Haas go in the right direction with their own as it offers up the opportunity to make gains on their rivals.
"Everyone’s going to bring big updates, so it’s almost like everyone’s going to have a B-car, therefore the standings could be a bit different.
"I think it’s important that our updates go in the right direction. It’s important, as we know what we can do there. We’ll see if we can repeat that and understand where our race pace has gone."
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