Grosjean smiles again in Sochi

After a disappointing Chinese Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean signed a new top ten by taking eighth place in Sochi after resisting the attacks of Sergio Pérez in the last part of the race.

The pilot Haas is now in seventh place in the Drivers' standings, one point ahead of Daniil Kvyat after shining in the first two races of the season held in Melbourne (Australia) and Bahrain.

“It’s a very good thing to be back in the points, especially after a very difficult weekend where we were never satisfied with the car”, commented the former GP2 champion. “I had a good first lap avoiding accidents and managed to hold Pérez behind me. There is still a lot of room for improvement on the car and I'm not 100% satisfied with the behavior yet, but it should be better for the next race. Knowing that we have something that will become better is very positive. »

“We didn’t expect to finish in eighth place after the first two days of testing”, recognized Günther Steiner, Team Principal of Haas F1 team. “We remain constant points contenders. Romain had a superb race to maintain his position, fighting on all fronts. This is what makes F1 interesting. »

Esteban Gutiérrez had less success since he only finished 17th. The Mexican had to immediately go to the pits to change his front wing and received a drive through for his collision with Nico Hulkenberg at the beginning.

“The race was complicated from the start”, commented Esteban Gutiérrez. “The start was clearly not good. I arrived at the first corner with a lot of space in front of me and I braked, but unfortunately I couldn't stop the car and I crashed into Nico. It's both a shame for me and for him. I did my best to make up for lost time, but I lost too much ground with the penalty. »

Discover the analysis of the Russian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2061 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.