Romain Grosjean at the heart of the melee in China

After its abandonment in Australia, Romain Grosjean hoped to open his points counter during the Chinese event in Shanghai. The former Lotus driver, however, was unable to climb into the top 10 of the second round of the World Championship, ahead of his compatriot Esteban Ocon (ForceIndia).

After qualifying where the Frenchman was penalized for not having respected the double yellow flags (which Grosjean contested via a tweet displaying his data), the start of the race for the ex-GP2 Series champion will not have been of complete rest.

From the first loops, Grosjean was indirectly the victim of Antonio Giovinazzi's (Sauber) accident, which had already hampered him yesterday during the qualifying session. “Yesterday was a bit of a joke and today the same guy crashed in front of me on the straight so I had to stop. I wasted a lot of time.

Then at the restart Ericsson let the car in front escape. I don't know what he was doing, so I was already in the background. Ocon pushed me on the first lap, and I lost half of the right side of the car. »

A satisfying but unrewarded pace

After the setbacks of the first quarter of the race, the Frenchman tried to catch up with the peloton fighting for points, but Romain Grosjean came up against the RS17 of Jolyon Palmer.

“I couldn't really find an opening on Palmer. Once I succeeded, I was able to set good times. We were doing a decent job, but it was already too late. It wasn't a simple strategy. The guys did the best job possible.

We saw the checkered flag and the lap times looked okay. I think we had more in store, but it's time to look to the next race and hopefully everything will improve. »

Sole points provider in 2016 for Haas F1 Team, Grosjean hopes to give his teammate an immediate response Kevin Magnussen, eighth at the finish, and who demonstrated the qualities of the VF17 on the Chinese track.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Chinese Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Shanghai, in AUTO issue 2109hebdo, available this evening in digital version, and this Wednesday on newsstands.