Grosjean praises "grown up" Haas F1

Romain Grosjean has praised Haas F1's first half of the 2017 season, with the American outfit already matching its points tally from last season before the summer break. The team enjoyed a strong debut campaign last year which saw it finish eighth in the Constructors' Championship with 29 points, and now with an arguably stronger driver lineup since Kevin Magnussen replaced Esteban Gutierrez, it is clear that the team is in a better position to challenge the rest of the midfield. 

As both Grosjean and Magnussen have managed to rack up 29 points in the first 11 races of 2017, the Frenchman is impressed and believes that the momentum that the team has carried from 2016 to 2017 is a result of the team "growing up."

“It’s been a very good feeling,” said Grosjean. “We’ve achieved quite a lot compared to last year. Same amount of points, without the failure in Melbourne we would have six or eight more points so we are in a good place.

“The team is growing up, we’ve shown that in the year two where everyone was expecting us to dived down, we have actually stepped up our game so very pleased with that. As far as I am hoping and what we are getting since I signed back in 2015.”

Although he didn't go as far to say that this season has exceeded his expectations from the team although he did highlight the Austrian Grand Prix as a strong weekend after he qualified in seventh and finished in sixth place. 

“We are on target on expectation. We wanted to fight in the midfield, we sometimes we are ahead, sometimes we are a bit behind. Hopefully here we are in more of the Austrian position than we were in Silverstone, but you never know.

“I think generally there are a lot more things we can improve and there is lot more room for improvement in the team which is great to know because we are not fully at 100 percent potential," he added.

Chris Soulsby