Grosjean: Haas 'much stronger in every area'

Romain Grosjean, Haas F1 Team, Japanese Grand Prix

The Haas F1 Team made its début at the start of last season, but already feels like an established part of the Formula 1 landscape.

They're currently in seventh place in the constructors championship, ahead of the likes of Renault, McLaren and Sauber, after taking double points in the last round at Suzuka.

This weekend's United States Grand Prix represents another milestone in the team's progress - its second home event.

"Austin is always a special one for us," said Romain Grosjean. "It shows that we’re growing up. We’re going there for the second time in our history."

The team has admitted finding its sophomore season tough going at times. But Grosjean is confident that the Haas is making significant progress in all departments.

"You never realize how much you can grow until you’ve seen what you’re doing," he explained. "From our start, the team is now much more experienced and much stronger.

"There are a lot of things we can improve to get better and better.

"From day one though, the team is much stronger in every area. There are no places where we are weaker.

"We’ve got better strategy, better engineering, better mechanics. Everything is more organized around the racetrack.

"It’s just the way it is when you start, but then you grow up.

"We know where we can still improve the team and we know we’ve got room for that, so that’s really good for the future.

"When you think that most of the teams are at their maximum, or are running at their maximum, we know how much we can do and still improve," he added. "It shows that there could be a really bright future."

Grosjean said that the personality of the team's owner, billionaire industrialist Gene Haas, was one of its biggest assets.

Gene Haas stresses importance of home race for US team

“I think every team is different, but we’ve got Gene who absolutely loves racing," he said. "He’s an amazing team owner. He’s very much involved. He loves it.

"He’s always trying to understand and get the best from everyone. That’s great to see.

"I’d say the team runs as every Formula 1 team does, but we know that we’ve got Gene behind us. He likes us to give our best and that makes it a great place to be and to work."

Haas himself had been on hand in Suzuka to celebrate the team's double points finish, with Grosjean and team mate Kevin Magnussen both in the top ten in the Japanese Grand Prix.

"It was a good result for us," said Grosjean. "For Gene, who was there, it was a very proud moment.

"We didn’t have huge performance, but we had a pretty good race," he added. "It’s important for the constructors championship because there’s a tight fight there

But Grosjean is keenly aware that the team can't rest on its laurels if it wants to hold on its seventh place in the standings.

"The truth of one race is not the truth of the next one," he cautioned.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.