Grosjean tames F1

Romain, in what state of mind are you approaching this Belgian Grand Prix and its fast corners, for your second race of F1 ?
It's interesting to see the difference between Formula 1 cars and GP2 cars. For me, the goal is to learn. I think I still have a lot to learn. Have Fernando (Alonso) is a big help to me. I'm trying to improve and see what I need to do to progress further.

How were you after your first Grand Prix? Did you have any surprises?
It was really a great Grand Prix. The goal was to finish the race and gain as much experience as possible. In this context, everything was very good. I was able to notice certain things on the car during the race, things that I hadn't noticed before. So I know what I need to work on here. It was very interesting for me, the start as well as all the procedures, the length of the race? This was all new and much remains to be done.

And, to be honest, I was very surprised to see how difficult it is to follow a car in Formula 1. When I was behind Luca Badoer, for quite a long time, in the first stint (of the European GP), I couldn't get under 0,8s because you lose most of the downforce and the car in front is going a lot faster, which makes your life quite difficult when you're following another car. I think there is a different spirit in the design of the car. In GP2, all the cars are the same and the ground effect is quite important compared to the aerodynamics. In Formula 1, we use more aerodynamic downforce than ground effect. This makes the race much more difficult to get closer to another car.

Did you have to put in a lot of work for your first weekend?
I think the team helped me as best as possible before Valencia by providing me with a lot of information. And she will do the same here. We need to approach this weekend here the same way we did in Valencia and improve session after session, to see what we can achieve at the end of the weekend.

You are very young. When you see a driver like Rubens Barrichello, do you imagine that you will be able to maintain the same level of motivation in fifteen years?
It?s impossible to say what you will do fifteen years later. What is certain is that Formula 1 is the best thing in the world for all drivers. We don't want to leave and I think the best thing Rubens could do was win the race last week, which shows he is still quite fast and age is not a problem.