Romain Grosjean, Haas, Silverstone, 2018

Steiner admits Haas are getting frustrated with Grosjean

2018 British Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by and

Romain Grosjean is testing the patience of the Haas team after being involved in a string of incidents during the British Grand Prix weekend, team principal Guenther Steiner has admitted.

A fourth-place finish in Austria last week raised hopes Grosjean had drawn a line under an incident-filled start to the season. However he was involved in three separate collisions during the British Grand Prix weekend.

Grosjean crashed out of yesterday’s race when he tangled with Carlos Sainz Jnr at Copse. He had another crash at Abbey during practice and collided with team mate Kevin Magnussen at the start of the race.

“I wouldn’t call this bad luck,” said Steiner when asked about Grosjean’s latest setbacks. “It’s getting frustrating.

“We all hope for him that we are going up and now we are down in the dumps again and we need to get out again.

“We will get out of it, it’s always hard work, but we should put pour hard work into scoring points instead of getting up again. We should be up and trying to hit high but at the moment we are using a lot of energy just to get out of the dumps always. Always chasing instead of trying to move ahead.”

Steiner said he will continue to support Grosjean. “That’s what I need to [do] because we need to succeed as a team.” But admitted they could reach a “tipping point” where it can no longer tolerate the points losses it is suffering.

“I don’t know where the tipping point is. I’m not there yet. But at some stage, as I said before, we need to stop losing points. And that is the tipping point.

“We cannot keep on doing this. We are now through half the season and we must have lost a lot of points because of our own mistakes. And this is actually not acceptable.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2018 F1 season

Browse all 2018 F1 season articles

118 comments on “Steiner admits Haas are getting frustrated with Grosjean”

  1. Lol if this happened at any other team he would be long gone

    1. The people at HaasF1 remember that signing Grosjean to a startup team was a real coup that gave them both credibility and a benchmark to see how much progress they were making. They’ve also been a good landing place for Grosjean after working for teams that not only didn’t appreciate him but sometimes didn’t even pay him what he was guaranteed in his contract. I go back and forth about Grosjean, but I think the writing is really on the wall at this point depending on who is available to replace him. I don’t doubt that someone connected with HaasF1 has whispered in Leclerc’s ear already, though it seems as if he has a real chance to replace Kimi at Ferrari. I wouldn’t recommend Kimi as a Grosjean replacement because I fear Kimi would just be phoning it in if he got demoted from Ferrari to HaasF1. I’m not sure who I would recommend to Gene Haas at this point. Despite his faults, he could still do worse than Grosjean, but HaasF1 needs a real workman who just goes out and does his job reliably, consistently, and well – pretty much as Magnussen has been doing for them.

      1. GS (@gsagostinho)
        9th July 2018, 12:35

        @gwbridge “Despite his faults, he could still do worse than Grosjean” — I would agree with this on almost any other season by Gorsjean but having one single point finishes in ten races in a car that is arguably the fourth fastest at the moment is hard to justify. I can’t think how any other driver could do worse.

      2. Grosjean need to be told directly from Steiner and Gene Haas, that this is his absolutely last chance. He needs some firm but simple direct orders:

        1. Don’t risk crash or gravel in training or quali
        2. If Magnussen beat you in quali, don’t try to overtake him on the first lap.
        3. On the following laps you are not allowed to overtake Magnussen, unless Steiner give a directly permission first.
        4. Follow all teamorders immidiately without any hesitation or discussion
        5. Don’t crash in race (as a result of your own fault or mistake)

        Brake one and you are out.

        1. Pretty much agree, but I’d make it ‘break’ one, otherwise he might be stopping too early.

          1. Off course, my mistake ;-)

      3. I’m hoping they think of Vandoorne. He’s suffocating at McLaren, like Magnussen was, but he can’t have lost all his pre-F1 talent.

        1. vanddoorne?? seriously??he will not be in F1after this year….Grosjean needs to switch teams, preferably sooner than later..(Button coud fill in for the rest of the season)and as Haas have a good driver in Magnusson..apart from his tendency to drive in front ofother cars..they could replace Grosjean with a new to F1 up and coming driver….after some testing

          1. Gemma St. Ivans
            10th July 2018, 7:53

            Button? The most mediocre driver ever to don the firesuit?

        2. Sergiu Fotache
          9th July 2018, 21:23

          Yes! I still remember how great he was in his pre-F1 times. I would love to see that kid shine again.

        3. Agreed, not a bad choice. Another person I’d consider is Kubica. He looks bored a hell whenever you see him on broadcast and it’s apparent Williams isn’t going to do anything anytime soon.

          1. Newgarden, Rossi if they want to go American, Vergne, Buemi, Kvyat, if they want to go international with F1 experience, Frijns and Lotterer if they want to go non-experienced, Guittierez and Nasr if they want to go (Latin) with big sponsor money behind them, current F1 drivers that might want a seat next year like Vandoorne, Ericson (sponsor money), Perez, and even Hartley, and then there’s young (Ferrari) drivers they could take like Giovinazzi, Ferruci and Fuoco. All those drivers are more likely to get a seat at Haas than Kubica is at this point.

          2. 11370 Via Rancho San Diego
            Unit C Dump Grosjean, nothing is ever his fault. One point, really! Get Kubica! He is hungry, has shown at Williams that he should be driving, the ONLY reason the other two are driving at Williams is because of money, not talent. Kubica is by far a better driver than Grosjean ever was or could be.

        1. Brady Baxter
          10th July 2018, 21:09

          Ferucci no, he is a garbage person and driver

      4. @gwbridge, one possible option would be to see if they could persuade Ferrari to offer them a more favourable engine supply deal in return for running Giovinazzi, although you would presume that, with Ferrari getting closer to Sauber, they’re looking at placing him there instead if Leclerc is being promoted.

        Failing that, there are a few figures they could go for – Kvyat is one name that some have mentioned, and Wehrlein is another. They could even go for a slightly more unusual choice such as Kobayashi (he’s driven in the Japanese Super Formula, so is still fairly sharp with single seater cars), or perhaps make a play for Alexander Rossi if they wanted to play to their home crowd.

        As an aside, I would have to say that I wouldn’t necessarily say that Magnussen always “does his job reliably, consistently, and well” – he did get involved in some rather unnecessary clashes on track earlier in the season, such as his clash with Gasly in Baku, even if he has calmed it down a bit in some of the more recent races.

        1. I’m envious at how so many of you remember details from past races.

      5. Well, with their Jr. having just been handed a 4 race ban for intentional collision and texting while driving (0___o), I think Haas are in a bit of a bind.

    2. Lol if this happened at any other team he would be long gone

      which is exactly what happened over at Team Enstone

    3. If I were in Steiner’s shoes I’d keep him until the summer break and if he doesn’t perform replace him with Kvyat until the end of the season. He is fast, loads of experience and the pressure would be off in Haas. He even seems to perform better in the tracks at the end of the calendar.

      But what a poor race for Grosjean, crashed in the practice, then he hits his teammate and crashes again later in the race. I can’t think anything worse than that. It seems to me that he is constantly over-driving a car he doesn’t have to. The days when he was considered (at least from the media) for Kimi’s seat seem so long ago now…

      1. A Russian in an American team, I doubt that.

        1. Ow come on….

      2. …” I can’t think anything worse than that”…

        – what about crashing under a safetycar?

        1. – or crashing in the warm up lap? (Brazil ’16 if I remember correctly.)

  2. Ben (@scuderia29)
    9th July 2018, 11:20

    Sainz may be an option if renault replace him with ocon, then there’s drivers like giovanazzi, wehrlein, dare I say kvyat..

    1. Swap him with Indycar. All American hero Josef Newgarden in the Haas, Romain G. to Penske.

      1. Newgarden is defending his Indycar title, he isn’t coming over mid-season to drive a midfield car that has no shot at winning or even a podium. Maybe next year but you’d still have to pay him at least twice what he is able to make in Indycar, I recon, to even get him to consider it.

    2. Sainz is highly rated, he’s next in line to Red Bull, Renault wouldn’t never drop him.

      I’m pretty sure Russell will be in F1 next year, Mercedez will try to put him in a Force India (in Perez place).
      I can see Perez going to Haas, it’s a very reliable and fast driver, it’s all they need.

      My prediction for next year is:
      Haas > Magnussen / Perez
      Ferrari > Vettel / LeClerc
      Mercedes > Hamilton / Bottas
      Renault > Sainz / Hulkenberg
      Force India > Ocon / Russell
      Williams > Stroll / ????
      McLaren > Alonso / Norris
      Toro Rosso > Gasly / Sette Camara* (he’s the better ex-RBR Jr. available)
      Sauber > Giovanazzi / Fuoco**

      Other option is Perez to Sauber and Pietro Fittipaldi to Haas (there’s some contact between the parts and his name can help).

      *He needs to finish 3th, what’s harder now after his recent misfortunes and problems.
      ** I think he also needs to finish 3th, he did pretty well in last races after a poor season start.

      1. Williams > Kubica / Doesn’t matter

    3. Since he’s American, Alex Rossi would fit in well I think

      1. I agree

  3. Steiner has given Grosjean a long leash, and defended him earlier when others were critical… so if Steiner’s now annoyed, Grosjean better start polishing up his resume…

    1. FreddyVictor
      9th July 2018, 12:18

      He’s toast !
      Trouble is we’re at the point in the season where Team Managers are considering drivers for next year, so there’s really no time for him to get the required results
      Thing is, he’s been showing really good speed in the recent practice sessions (when not flying off!), comfortably quicker than KMAG

      1. Nah, MAG just waited to put the pressure on when it mattered. Remember, he didn’t only marginally beat GRO, he beat him with over 2 tenths in the last try. Had he shown all that he could earlier in the weekend, GRO would just have stolen his ideas from the shared telemetry. MAG has realized that while he can’t beat any of the 3 topteams, and while they seem to have the “best of the rest car” his only job is to beat his teammate consistently, and so far he’s doing that without much efford.

        1. Exactly.. MAG is driving steady and clever in FPs – not risking anything.. and then hits the pedal in Q3.. MAG has grown alot this year..

      2. Maybe he should try to go for the Land Speed record.

  4. Ouch.
    Grosjean out; LeClerc in.

    1. The rate at which Sauber is improving, they will probably be quicker than Haas by the end of the season. Since Sauber actually design their own car, it’s a better bet as a team than Haas to be honest. Either ways, Leclerc is in at Ferrari next season, so Haas might to look at Ericsson instead.

      1. May as well still stick with Grosjean then, as a single 4th place in 10 races is better than a bunch of 12th-15th places.

        1. Agree that ericsson is a bad idea, however it’s not currently a fair comparison, grosjean has a much better car.

  5. Laurence Stroll seen approaching Gene Haas in Haas hospitality, but leaving long-faced after learning Gene Haas does not need Stroll’s money.

    1. There’s probably only one driver on the entire grid that would be an unworthy replacement for Grosjean… and that man is Sir Lance Stroll.

      1. And even then, consider how few times williams has been competitive, stroll and grosjean only scored points once, that’s kinda bad for grosjean, even compared with stroll, however obviously some of the williams’ very slow pace will be due to their drivers.

  6. Hey Santino Ferrucci is out of a job. Would be awesome to see him crash into K-Mag on purpose.

    1. Ouch! :-D

    2. Ferrucci would be lucky to even see an F1 car from now on, let alone get the Superlicense to drive one…

    3. That guy has a seriously punchable face!

  7. Kubica would be a great HAAS lead driver.

    1. Haas already has a leaddriver .. MAG20 ..

      Kubica is history ..

      1. Maggy can barely handle Gros on an average day – they really need a top driver like Kub to move forward!

        1. Considering the injury, the amount of years he’s been out and how well magnussen has been driving this year, I think he’d be stronger than kubica now, however he deserves a shot at a f1 seat, at least for a year and see how he goes, after all the work he put in to come back, he was a strong driver once, don’t see how he’s not worthy of a seat now.

      2. Wouldn’t classify MAG as a leader.
        Many could do the same in that Ferrari…..err Haas.

  8. Mike Collins
    9th July 2018, 11:53

    Sign Ricciardo, he would be a great ambassador for the team and is well liked in the U.S. And with Ferrari power would giv everyone a run for their money.

    1. as my favourite driver, i would love the see Daniel next year at Haas, as they will probably be the 3rd fastest car in 2019, ahead of RedBull Honda. But i’m not sure if Gene Haas wants to spend that kind of money to hire him and also, Ferrari would probably not be very comfortable having RIC in the B team.

  9. If Leclerc goes to Ferrari, why not take Raikkonen?

    1. He’s long said he would end his career at Ferrari and he’ll be 39 next year. Maybe Kubica?

      1. Kubica

    2. I think Kimi would be good for another year or two if he wants it.
      And his popularity would benefit F1.
      He’s still better than most and his experience would pay dividends.

  10. Finally. Can not stand Moanjean / Crashjean.

    1. /Slowjean

    2. Ericjean

  11. It feels like Kimi will stay at Ferrari for next season, it feels like a logical step for Leclerc to take that seat, Ferrari give him one more year of experience in a midfield team and promote him for 2020.

    Grosjean is out and they can place Giovanazzi in the Sauber or maybe some other driver from the program, maybe Fuoco

    1. @johnmilk Haas wouldn’t take Leclerc on a one-year contract only to have Ferrari steal him away. Sounds like you’re one of the guys who still thinks Ferrari tells Gene Haas what to wear in the morning.

      1. ahahah @gwbridge that escalated quickly didn’t it?

        1. @johnmilk You may have mistaken HaasF1 for Toro Rosso. The Red Bull company owns two complete F1 teams, except that Toro Rosso’s drivers are not under contract to STR. That’s why whenever STR gets anything desirable, it gets taken away from them just as Sainz and Vettel and Verstappen were. STR has no standing because all of those drivers are contracted to Red Bull. That’s also why STR has had to devote an entire season to benefit not itself but RBR by being a test mule for the Honda power unit. How many engine components has STR gone through, and will they hit ten power units before the end of the three-power unit season? HaasF1 is what it is, but it is a team that is fully in the game to make as much progress and be as competitive as it can be, like a true competitor. They don’t carry water for Ferrari because they don’t belong to Ferrari and do not exist to do Ferrari’s bidding for the benefit of Ferrari. That would be unsporting and anti-competitive. Gene Haas may decide that it is to his team’s advantage to take Leclerc for a single season, but I think he would rather invest his team’s time and money on a driver who will be dedicated to advancing HaasF1’s agenda of being the best that they can.

          1. @gwbridge that’s where you got it wrong,you thought I based my opinion on one thing, but actually it is based in another completly different.

  12. Champagne Papi
    9th July 2018, 12:30

    Good riddance.

  13. What I don’t enjoy is the instantly blaming Sainz, “he just turned into me!”, when clearly it’s Grosjean making a correction mid corner, which is fine, it’s straight after the safety car, tyres are cool, it could happen to anyone, there would be plenty of corrections throughout the field on that lap, his just happened in the wrong place at the wrong time. To be instantly shifting blame on the radio, is unnecessary at best

    1. Meh it was 75/25 sainz grosjean imo. Grosjean had the mid corner correction but Sainz should’ve known that was most likely going to be the case and given him space. Not giving that space was a miscalcuation on sainz part that nothing would go wrong, when something (very minor) did go wrong that meant the crashed. There wasn’t much grosjean could’ve done except conceding the corner.

      1. +1

        Totally disagreed with the C4 pundits’ groupthink blaming Grosjean, don’t they ever look carefully at the pictures? Grosjean did everything he could to avoid the collision but Sainz just gave him no room.

    2. I’d be willing to grant some leniency due it being in the heat of the moment but RoGro’s been involved in a lot of incidents this season and he’s the common factor; he really needs to start taking a bit of personal responsibility. Even worse was when he tried to blame Ericsson for binning it behind the Safety Car in Baku, despite ERI being some way down the road at the time.

    3. it was clearly Ericsson’s fault

      1. if you think about it, this time was actually Ericsson’s fault :)) If he didn’t park it into the barriers, the SC wouldn’t have come out to bunch up the field, thus giving GRO a chance to show his close combat skills.

  14. Mark in Florida
    9th July 2018, 12:37

    Hulkenberg would be a nice fit at HF1. He’s a workman driver, consistent and not too prone to hysterics. Leclerc would be a coup, but I don’t rate the chances of that very high. Kubica would be an exciting addition to the team he has maybe an outside chance. Even Erricson seems a better choice than Rogro. I think Kmag is getting to him and he can’t take it anymore and is taking more and more chances which is causing the incidents.

    1. Considering MAG and HUL’s history, that solution would suck – pun intended. :)

  15. @johnmilk It’s not a scenario I like since I’d love to see Charles in red in 2019. But it’s the most reasonable from Ferrari perspective.

    Is there a web resource with all the contracts situations to make some guesses about 2019 lineup changes? Poking first experts coming to my mind @keithcollantine @dieterrencken @phylyp

    1. I feel Ferrari could keep Kimi for one more year, leave Leclerc at Sauber to have one more year experience with as midfield team, seem logical.

      For the current contract situation, the best chart, etc I found is :

      https://www.gp-hub.com/f1-2019-drivers/

      1. Thank you very much, @photozen!

      2. @photozen – very nice graphic, thanks for sharing.

      3. @photozen wow. Didn’t know there’s so many drivers out of contract!
        Thanks for the link…

  16. @gwbridge Maybe perez? Cuz Ocon seems to outperforming him… maybe a jump to haas could help keep his reputation as a podium finished cuz haas seem to be the old force india

    or maybe even Giovinazzi? Due to the relationship with ferrari? Who knows? Giovinazzi in exchange for discounted engines similar to how mercedes got wehrlein & ocon into manor then force india

    1. Archit (@architjain07)
      9th July 2018, 14:44

      Daniel Kyvat is Ferrari development driver! Why not him! He must be hungry for success and prove himself again!

      1. @architjain07 – yeah, I’d like to see Kvyat run in a Haas, let’s see if he’s still got what it takes. That said, I’m sure the Haas detractors will say that Kvyat will fit right in as the Haas is a Ferrari under its livery (sarcasm on that last sentence).

        1. Archit (@architjain07)
          9th July 2018, 19:08

          Reading from comments, Vandoorne might be another good option given Lando is all but set to find a race seat! Actually between Vandoorne and Lando, whosoever doesnt have a seat can sign up with Haas! Bet McLaren cant keep both of them forever!

  17. I think Haas actually has a few options – Wehrlein, Kvyat, and Kubica. I like Grosjean, but nearly the entire existing grid and drivers who aren’t on the grid currently, would be doing a better job than Grosjean.

  18. Haas is also a good option for Alonso imo.

    1. I was thinking this also but i’m not sure how dependant Alonso is on Zac’s contacts to do the Indy 500 next year, plus, would HAAS let him drive for Andretti or Penske? Though, with the reduction in aero next season putting a greater emphasis on engine power, having a ferrari engine could be a great advantage.

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      9th July 2018, 14:55

      That’s gotta be a joke – if Alonso presented his salary to Gunther Steiner, he would have a heart attack on the spot. I’m not even sure that Haas could afford Bottas or Ricciardo, although neither would want to race for Haas.

  19. JungleMartin
    9th July 2018, 13:14

    I’m no Grosjean fan but I think it’s harsh to blame him for the incident with Sainz which took them both out. Sainz tried to go around the outside and had to expect Grosjean to still be there. What is Grosjean supposed to do, just give the place up? There would be plenty of people ready to criticise him for that too. I’m sure Sainz’s car being where it was around the outside of a very fast corner affected Grosjean’s aero, contributing to the ‘moment’ that he had to then correct. Sainz took a risk by attempting the overtake, just as any driver takes a risk when trying to overtake, whether around the outside or up the inside. The risk is there could be a collision. I’m not particularly pointing the finger at Sainz either. These are top level racing drivers. They will try to overtake. They will try to defend. Incidents happen, and in open wheel formulas, they often result in retirements.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      9th July 2018, 20:42

      Good point about the incident with Sainz.

      I think Gunther is talking about the triple whammy this weekend including the collision with Kevin – at the very least, Romain needs to stay as far away from Kevin as possible and vice versa.

      It’s a fair warning from Gunther to Romain because he needs to be aware that there’s only so much that he can accept as a team principal. I think this will help Romain do better over the 2nd half of the season.

    2. What is Grosjean supposed to do, just give the place up?

      Yes, that’s exactly what he should have done. When you’re desperate for a solid race weekend sometimes you need to pick your battles and drive conservatively to make sure you bring the car home.

  20. In other words you can start looking elsewhere.

  21. Have no idea what’s going on with him, probably this is how good he is, but I don’t remember being so clumsy back in the Lotus days. I remember he actually had quite few strong performances, where he mopped the floor with RAI, but I could be wrong tho as I didn’t pay too much attention to him. I guess now that Ferrari seat he kept dreaming about is complete history.

  22. ”We are now through half the season”
    – Not just yet. The halfway point of the season will be reached midway through the next race to be perfectly precise.

    1. F1 is a sport of precision, thank you @jerejj

    2. @jerejj

      I would think after qualifying at the next race. But maybe we’re both getting too technical about it :P

      1. @todfod No, it’s indeed the midway point of the next race. I calculated it. By the midway point of the German GP ten and a half races will have been completed with another ten and a half race distances left to complete.

  23. I have always quite liked Grosjean as a driver but is definitely going to need to stop making silly mistakes. Now!

    Taking into account this season’s events he is really going to struggle getting a drive with anyone else. Sauber maybe if Leclerc leaves?

    He needs to be on his best behaviour 100%.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      9th July 2018, 20:44

      @phil-f1-21

      Exactly! This is a good warning from Gunther – Romain’s gotta clean his act up and start producing some of the good results that we had seen from him before.

  24. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    9th July 2018, 14:49

    My, my, my – what a rough season it’s been for Grosjean and most unfortunate for him, his teammate has made a turnaround and is producing great results.

    It’s also extremely unfortunate that this is happening at a time when we have so many brilliant new drivers entering F1.

    However, I’m not entirely sure that Haas could easily find a replacement and much harder to find a better driver. Let’s look at the drivers that could race for Haas.

    Hulkenberg – I can’t see him leaving Renault to join Haas.
    Sainz – I can’t see him either leaving Renault to join Haas.
    Ocon – He might be willing to swap but he has his sights set higher. It could also be too much of a gamble as K-Mag is very comfortable with that car and doing much better than we’d expect of him.
    Checo – Maybe?
    Leclerc – I can’t see him leaving Sauber to join Haas either. Too much of a gamble and not enough upside.
    Ericsson – not sure if he’s much better than Grosjean
    Stroll – he maybe willing but will Haas be willing to have him drive for them?
    Sirotkin – same as Stroll
    Vandoorne – he hasn’t really shown brilliance at McLaren but maybe that’s because of the team. Checo and K-Mag are McLaren rejects and they are still racing and in fact K-Mag is racing for Haas and doing well.

    1. You forgot Kubica, who is probably better than most of your list!

      1. He’s probably going to be stuck racing a Williams by that point…

  25. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    9th July 2018, 16:10

    For me Grosjean’s always been the epitome of fast but unreliable. He has good races where’s he’s largely amazing and then others where you only notice him because of the enormous errors he does.

    Personally I don’t think Haas should be too fast to boot him as it’s not like he’s completely terrible. First year blew away Gutierrez (though not much of a competiton) and last year he and Magnussen were fairly evenly matched, but this year Magnussen’s really grown from being a match for Grosjean to outperforming him. I don’t think Grosjean’s head should be on the block just yet but it’s fair to say Haas – with the car they’ve got, should be far closer to Renault in the constructors championship than they are and that’s all down to Grosjean.

  26. His teammate Magnussen is not better on track just as much of a liability and serious risk to other drivers around.

    1. Ohhh shut of about MAGs dangerous driving – where does it come from.. the other midfield drivers who wants to hold him down.. MAGs driving is excellent and perfect for defending and the fans

  27. Can’t care less about Grosjean at this point.
    Guy has a ton of experience, makes silly mistakes, never, ever, takes the blame.
    The only guys there that could do less are the Williams drivers and maybe Ericsson.

    He was the guy Haas needed when the team was no more than a doubt,as theu could not even sign someone better than Gutierrez for the second car, and he was the man for the points, but still made some great things like crashing while taking the car to the grid in Interlagos when starting sixth, then, their best start position ever.

  28. Frustrated as they can be.

  29. Neil (@neilosjames)
    9th July 2018, 18:33

    I’d like to see Vandoorne and Magnussen team up again, as they did many years ago in FR3.5… the McLaren environment was obviously ill-suited to Magnussen, and there’s no way Vandoorne has suddenly lost his exceptional talent so I assume the same for him.

  30. Grosjean, in theory, is fast. But even his most ardent supporters have only been able to muster the argument that for the last half of a single season, he was almost as fast as an aged Kimi in the lotus, a driver who was immediately second best when he moved to Ferrari.

    The days when he could be described as a championship winner are long gone. He’s not even, unlike hulk or Perez, a safe pair of hands.

    As a member of the paddock, I’m most impressed with his openness to admitting his need for outside counselling and mental training; a difficult thing for any sportsman to admit. As a driver, he’s used up more chances than a lot of other guys were ever given, so he can’t complain if he gets dumped mid-season.

    1. thomas hulstrøm
      9th July 2018, 19:27

      Another irritating thing about Gro is that whenever he is outperformed by Kmag (quite often lately) he always have some comment about something that was wrong with the car, and he would have qualified/performed better than Kmag. Shut up and prove it! And its ALWAYS someone else to blame when he wrecks it. Kind of pathetic.

  31. What does it take to make a decision on Grosjean? He is inconsistently fast but consistently a liability to other drivers and the team with his erratic driving. He has cost Haas millions of dollars in needless car damage and for what?

    He is aged 32. It’s not like he is 21 and just learning the trade. He is NOT going to get over this tendency to crash completely on his own (Baku, Britain) or into other cars (name your race)!!

    Someone suggested Button. Imagine Button and Massa at Haas. Now imagine Alonso at Haas with a competent new comer (NOT Ferrucci, he has just closed the door on his potential for F1 with a brainless temper tantrum at Silverstone).

    Imagine Alonso and Josef Newgarden!!

    Regardless, Haas need to get rid of Grosjean and the sooner the better.

  32. a certain kiwi will be available next year, perhaps his luck will stay with the honda engine.

  33. Gemma St. Ivans
    10th July 2018, 7:51

    He’s great for the show. The new Maldonado

  34. Repairing his car every day must be a bit of a strain on the budget. Maybe they should start taking the expense out of his salary.

  35. I’ve always supported GRO but my patience is now up. I’m excited to think he may not be in F1 next year. I am tired of his whining. There is plenty of talent out there to fill his seat.

    You could have been great, Romain, but if everything is always someone else’s fault, then how on earth are you ever going to learn, boy!

Comments are closed.