Grosjean: We underestimated rivals’ speed

2013 Indian Grand Prix

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Romain Grosjean says he was knocked out in Q1 because the team underestimated how quickly their rivals’ lap times would improve.

Grosjean did not use the soft tyre in the Q1 as the team believed he could go quick enough on the medium tyre to get through to Q2. But he missed the cut by four tenths of a second and will start 17th.

“We took a gamble once again to try just one run on the [medium] tyres in Q1,” said Grosjean, “and although it’s been a successful tactic for us recently it didn’t pay off this time.”

“The times were much tighter than expected and ultimately we made a miscalculation with the cut-off time. It’s easy to look back and think what might have been, but we made the decision together and unfortunately in the end it was the wrong one.”

Grosjean doubts he will be able to achieve a good result from the ninth row in the race.

“It’s tough to overtake here so it’s going to be a long race from 17th on the grid. We’ll have to pull off something quite special with the strategy to take anything from there, but of course we’ll analyse the options overnight to see what’s possible.

“For sure we won’t be leading after the first corner this time, but we’ll do our best.”

2013 Indian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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21 comments on “Grosjean: We underestimated rivals’ speed”

  1. Funny, Kimi that made early attempt on those med, his laptime would’ve good enough for getting through Q2. Team wasted another soft for Kimi in Q1 when there was no need for that. Romain on fresh med and much evolve circit couldn’t bettered Kimi’s earlier medium lap time.

    I think it’s Romain’s fault this time.

    1. Honestly Candice, I’ve seen you (And coincidentally a person with a strikingly similar username called Mandice) slagging Grosjean several times already but none of it is really justified. Was Raikkonen’s timing on the mediums less than 1:26:1 in Q1? Highly doubt so, his timing on softs was 1:25:8 in Q1 which isn’t the usual ~1 second difference in performance between the two tyres.

      1. Not really. Kimi was on 1.26.5 on medium, bettered than Romain’s laptime. That alone would be enough to make it into Q2.

        You are looking at Bottas thinking his laptime would be the cut off. As long as anyone faster than Romain, he will make it into Q2.

        1. You do realize Grosjean’s time was also 1:26:5 on mediums, don’t you >_> Honestly, I don’t know if you just have a vendetta against Grosjean for whatever reason and/or you’re a huge Raikkonen fan, but if you’re going to criticize Grosjean, at least do it when he deserves it.

          1. Given the recent races Grosjean has fared better than Raikkonen in qualifying so it is perfectly normal for them to place Grosjean on the riskier strategy, but unfortunately in this race he was not able to assert his better qualifying pace and paid the price for it… Raikkonen would have been in the exact same position as Grosjean had their strategies been switched.

          2. Yea, romain was on 1.26.577 which was slower than Kimi.

            He came out very late on much evolve track. If kimi could manage to get through Q2 with his early laptime, it shouldn’t be hard for Romain to better that laptime of Kimi.

          3. @Candice Gro would have beat him again in qually. That Lotus must be so good the last races if Gro is the main challenger to the Bulls imagine what Ham or Alonso could do in that car. Gro is showing Kimi up Kimi is 33-34 i think he wont be competitive in Ferrari v Alonso. You always try make Kimi look better. The funniest is when Kimi does bad its the tyres lol. So becuase weve changed tyres it helps Grosjean? That is such an excuse lol, if he is good as u think it should be no issue what so ever. Kimi has just been embarrasing for some time now.

          4. not really. he couldn’t even get better lap time in Q1 on much evolve track than Kimi on medium compounds. Let alone outqualify Kimi because he wont get through Q1.

            Kimi struggle with not able to do anything with the camber setting because Pirelli place restiction on it.

            As for Alonso and Lewis, they need to start outqualify their teammate before they can talk big. ROFL

          5. Yh Candice Hamilton 10-6 V Rosberg leads in standings was 1 tenth slower, why your man Kimi struggles to get out of q3 lol, and is getting beat by Grosjean, again i repeat when Gro cme 3rd in Japan what does that tell us? That the Lotus must be mega quick if he can come 3rd. Can you imagine the top 3 drivers havingGrosjean as their teammate lol. You must be insecure about Kimi thats why you post about Gro every week. Kimi came 6th lol when Grosjean was like 3rd in practise, we both no for a fact that Lotus should be higher than 6th.

          6. And again that tells me evrything i need to know u saing he struggles cuz of camber, dont you guys say Kimi can drive anything fast. Just admit it he as underperormed, and i will admit he performed early on in year.

  2. He’ll have to do some long, quick and consistent stints in clean air to have a chance of fighting for the top 5 in normal conditions. Maybe they can come up with a strategy which will enable some good possibilities for the race. Personally I’d like to see him continuing the good form he has been showing for a while, and I would like him to have a good recovery race.

    1. May be we may see Grosjean Charging on softs for last 5 or 6 laps.

      1. I’d do the complete opposite.
        Go out on a set of soft tyres at the start and abuse the hell out of them for 6 or 7 laps trying to take the advantage.
        As soon as GRO gets stuck behind whoever is around 10th place, pit for Mediums and run in clean air just like Kimi did in Singapore. A clear track and a pit stop in hand could really help GRO make the top 5 but I think a podium is out of the question this weekend now.

  3. In hindsight it was the wrong choice to use mediums, but they did it in Japan and Grosjean was the only one capable of challenging the Red Bull, you won’t beat Red Bull by playing safe, the only way to beat them is to use a different strategy in race or qualifying. I still think Grosjean can have a decent race tomorrow, the first corner is tricky so there could be a few collisions or retirements, the Lotus has great race pace, although it’s been slow in the speed traps, so I think they could risk starting from the pit lane with a low downforce set up with extended gearing however I doubt they would risk that, if there’s a crash at the first corner then drivers at the back can quickly find themselves in the top ten.

  4. It sure will be interesting to follow his race. Given he is a less experienced F1 driver, I suspect the risk of an early accident is on the high side. I hope to see a very interesting race from Grosjean.

    1. Huh for some time now he as been clean driver dude. He as been the main challenger to the Bulls. Kimi has gone walkabout. But its all down to the new tyres lol. Such excuses.

      1. Dude, chill out with you Kimi bashing lol!

        What underperformance of Kim are you talking about. It’s okay to say Grosjean is doing well, but to harp Kimi is nowhere is a nice joke.

        Australia- Win, China 2nd, Bahrain 2nd, Germany 2nd, Hungary 2nd, Singapore 3rd, Korea 2nd & Japan 5th.

        The Only dude challenging Redbull, Ferrari, Mclaren & Mercedes over the last 36 races for Lotus… 2 Seasons in a row has been Kimi Raikkonen. Show some respect & intelligence. Grosjean is good enough for 6 races out of 20… That’s complete bogus job in a decent car since 2012.

      2. Not sure what you base your optimism on, but looking back at his drives so far along side Kimi, constant points deficit should be alarming coupled with over things, that hopefully he got under control.

        He made great start in Suzuka, but his drive was mediocre at best if he is, as you say Kimi slayer. The Grosjean we know from qualifying would have pushed much harder.

        1. Grosjean was recovering from a bad end to the 2012 season and that affected the start of his 2013 campaign, but that has been resolved. As for Suzuka, I’d hardly call being the only driver to be able to pose a threat to the Red Bulls have a ‘mediocre race’, he did about as much, arguably even more than what’s expected of him. Granted, he didn’t show his usual qualifying speed in India but in 99% of cases, no matter how good you are you’re bound to lose the upper hand to your teammate at least a few times. I hope to see him charge through the field tomorrow, perhaps starting from 17th isn’t such a bad thing; he now has the chance to show what he can do from a handicapped position.

  5. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    26th October 2013, 16:22

    If Lotus realy wants to catch up Ferrari and Mercedes, they can’t take anything for granted, especially at this final stage of the season. Red Bull works harder and harder, even now, beacuse if they mess it up, the nerves’ game comes to play.

  6. Grosjean has his moments of pure speed, but alas does not succeed very consistently. Let´s face it – he is still prone to mistakes. Lotus has taken risks with Grosjean qualifying to save a fresh set of softer tyres. It paid off in the previous qualifying and for once Grosjean crossed the finish line before Kimi. Good for him, but it does not mean a whole lot.

    Kimi has had trouble in the qualifying but has no match in race craft. I personally enjoy a fast driver overtaking his way to the podium. This has been the case in the last races. Drivers have preferences and the tyres can have an effect on a single driver performance.

    I would not trash Kimi because of one race or even two races gone bad.

    It is possible Alonso will have a hard time with Kimi. It is a fact that Alonso was slower than Hamilton in the same car. And I think Kimi is faster than Hamilton in a race. But it is interesting to see.

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