Brazil – French Performance: Grosjean Saves the Day!

Romain Grosjean: 8th (9th on the grid)

After achieving a respectable qualifying, the Franco-Swiss driver could have seen his race end prematurely. It was in turn 2 that the Haas driver was hit by Marcus Ericsson. While the incident seems visually minor, Grosjean’s floor is quite damaged.

The Frenchman will still lead an exemplary and anonymous race to bring his car to 8th place. A good performance by the Haas team, which managed to place both its cars in the points, unlike its direct competitor in the standings, Renault.

« We were losing about a second per lap due to the lack of downforce on the car. To be able to set these times, I think we found some incredible settings. I’m satisfied with that. I think without that, we would have easily been the best of the rest. I’m happy that we are eighth and ninth. Even though we are far behind Renault in the championship, it would be incredible to get both cars in the points in the last two races before winter. » said the Haas driver after the race.

YESSS, very happy with P8 and P9 today for the @HaasF1Team
Car felt amazing all weekend long.
Flying back home tonight to see @marionjolles and the little monkeys ❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/MYGMcMWorm

— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) 11 novembre /f1/actualite/23018-bresil-accrochage-oconverstappen-reactions-et-sanctions.html

Pierre Gasly: 13th (10th on the grid)

Once again, the Norman outperformed his teammate by managing to secure 10th place on the grid while Hartley got stuck in Q1.

Unfortunately for the Toro Rosso driver, his race pace proves to be less effective than in qualifying, and the Frenchman continues to slip down the rankings. This decline may be due to a lack of adherence to team orders. Indeed, Red Bull’s junior team had asked Pierre Gasly to let his teammate pass as they were on different strategies. The future Red Bull driver is not inclined to comply. The reason? Gasly damages his tires and eventually gets overtaken by Brendon Hartley and Carlos Sainz.

I had some good fights today but it was a tough race. I had a good start and climbed up to 8th place, but we were clearly not competitive enough compared to our opponents. I fought as hard as I could but we didn’t have the pace to get into the points, concluded the Frenchman.

Some great battles yesterday, fought hard with an aggressive strategy but it didn’t pay off. Happy with another Q3, we need to focus on our race pace now. Already focusing & working for Abu Dhabi. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Oj3hUj7BIj— Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 (@PierreGASLY) 12 novembre /f1/actualite/23018-bresil-accrochage-oconverstappen-reactions-et-sanctions.html

Esteban Ocon: 15th (18th on the grid)

Starting from the back of the grid following a penalty due to a gearbox change, the Norman driver only had to claw back positions and carve a path through the pack. But sometimes, not everything goes as planned.

If Esteban Ocon managed to excel at the start of the race thanks to a good number of overtakes, particularly in the Senna S, he will be one of the actors in the dramatic downfall of the race. Thanks to a reverse strategy, the Norman was a real rocket with the Super soft tires. But on the 44th lap, seeing that Max Verstappen, current race leader, is slower than him, Esteban attempts to overtake him. The two men collide, Max finishes 2nd, and Esteban receives a Stop and Go penalty, dropping to 15th place.