Romain Grosjean: “Not been this happy since 2013”

Are you surprised to be fighting at the front so early in the season?

To tell the truth, since the second free practice session at Barber, I felt that we really had a good pace on the road. Besides, in qualifying, if I didn't end up in traffic during my attempt, I think we could reach Fast6 (he started in 7th position. Editor's note). More generally, we had pace during the first two races, but we experienced some technical problems which slowed us down. Here, I knew I would quickly feel comfortable.

How do you explain your very good start in the series?

In fact, I just like the feeling this car gives me. They are similar to those of my car in GP2 in 2011, a type of car with which I have always been competitive. And then Honda and Firestone also helped me understand how to be fast in IndyCar, explaining to me what I should do and what I should avoid. It is for this set of reasons that we are performing so quickly. As a rookie, I also have the chance to have additional days of testing. And then my ten years in F1 were useful to me, because I had to learn to adapt to really different cars, some very competitive, others really bad, and I know how to change my driving style depending on the car that I'm put between the hands.

What lessons did you learn from your first two races?

At Barber, I learned that in IndyCar you have to push from the first to the last lap. In F1, after the start, you push a few laps and then things calm down, you start to manage your tires, to save fuel, whereas here with the yellow flags, the closing of the pitlane, everything can change very quickly. Even if you have a 7 or 8 second lead during the first segment of the race, that's not why you won the race. I checked it today (Saturday. Ed.).