Romain Grosjean has described the Haas VF-16 as ‘one of the best’ cars he has driven in Formula 1, following his sensational sixth place at the season opener in Melbourne last time out.
After perfecting a no-stop strategy following the red flag delay due to Fernando Alonso and team-mate Esteban Gutierrez’s horrendous shunt, Grosjean managed to rise up through the order whilst many other drivers pitted to score points for Haas on their maiden F1 race weekend.
“Having a brand new team come into the sport and showing that it is possible to score points on their debut was a very good thing,” explained Grosjean ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
“For my guys working so hard for the last few months it was a good morale boost and confirmation that the car we are driving is probably one of the best I have ever driven!”
Despite the fairytale start to the season for Grosjean and Haas, the Frenchman is remaining realistic ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix and is not expecting a repeat of such successes around the Sakhir circuit.
However, Grosjean is remaining exceptionally optimistic, especially after the limited amount of competitive track time attained by the Frenchman in Australia after rain on Friday and his pit-lane altercation with Rio Haryanto on Saturday morning.
“I think there’s a lot we need to learn, there is a lot of things we can do better,” continued Grosjean.
“We didn’t have any practice in Australia with the rain and then the crash in the pit-lane in FP3, so we put the car on track with barely any setup work and guessed where we should be.
“I’m not saying we are going to be in the top five here in Bahrain this weekend, I’m just saying that it’s the beginning for the team but generally I think we are going to have up and downs but the potential is big.”
