Romain Grosjean: “We turned the situation around”

After a thirteenth place in Great Britain and a premature retirement in Hungary, Romain Grosjean took advantage of the return of F1 after the summer break to reconnect with the top 10 in Belgium. However, the final seventh place for the Haas VF17 n°8 was far from certain after a difficult start to the weekend and problems finding the right balance on its car.

« I am very happy with the team, very proud, comments the former Lotus driver. After the first free practices, I thought it was going to be difficult, but we turned it around nicely. We just need to be more consistent in the window of use of the tire, in the settings and be present from the start of a weekend. »

In the front row of the first collision between the two Force Indias after the Source hairpin on the initial lap, Grosjean admitted to not having managed to get off the ground, but good management of the ultra-soft tires helped the American clan.

“It was a hell of a race. We knew we could be close to the top 10, but we didn't think we would finish seventh. After a few laps the car behaved well. I didn't have a good start, but I attacked a lot. We had good degradation on the ultra-soft tire.

We had planned a stop. I saw Force India go for two stops and I thought if they didn't widen the gap too much it should be good. The safety car came out, then I tried to pass the Renault in front of me, but she was a little too fast. »

Romain Grosjean was also very close to being speared by his teammate Kevin Magnussen during the restart after the safety car re-entered. The Dane locked his wheels when braking for the last chicane, before avoiding the French driver's car at the last moment.

.@KevinMagnussen ran off at the chicane on the restart. Did well not to ram the rear of @RGrosjean. Can you say 'close'?  #BelgianGP

- Haas F1 Team (@ HaasF1Team) August 27

Find the full report and analysis of the Belgian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Spa, in issue 2129 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.