Haas: « A disastrous Friday afternoon » for Grosjean
Weekends come and go, some with victories, others with problems. However, the morning session didn't get off to such a bad start for Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez, the other regional contenders at this Grand Prix in Mexico.
Romain Grosjean – 11th and 20th fastest – approached this weekend invigorated by his 100th Grand Prix and a point scored at Team Haas’s home race. While the morning session went smoothly and he was able to meet his targets, the afternoon session was quite the opposite, turning into a near nightmare.
Indeed, as soon as he got on the track, he went back to the pit area and didn’t come out until 30 minutes before the end of the session due to an electronic issue.
He sums up his day: « This morning wasn’t too bad, but our afternoon was disastrous. When we have problems like Friday, it costs us on Sunday. Certainly, we still have tomorrow, but we must try to make the most of everything we’ve done today. »
On his side, the native of the country – 15th and 22nd – who was discovering the circuit as the 3rd Ferrari driver last year, enjoyed the good vibes of being at home and had a somewhat calmer Friday than his teammate, despite grip issues during FP2.
He recounts his first laps and his sensations: « It’s great to have been able to drive on the home circuit. It’s very exciting to be here and to drive on this track, even more so in front of all the Mexican crowd. »
He continues, aware that there is still much work to be done: « We will have to work on performance, which was not there at the moment. The car was difficult to drive during FP2 and had little grip. We will work and sort through the data to make the right adjustments for FP3 and qualifying. »
The American team, after successfully achieving the daring challenge of scoring a point on its home turf in Austin, must once again contend with a very mediocre start to the weekend.
