Racing on home turf didn't bring Romain Grosjean the luck he needed to pull himself out of a painful slump, but Haas team boss Guenther Steiner is convinced the Frenchman can turn around his season.
Grosjean's afternoon at Paul Ricard last Sunday began with a five-second penalty for colliding at the start with Force India's Esteban Ocon, and concluded with a lowly 11th place finish, his twelfth successive run out of the points since last year's US Grand Prix.
In contrast to Grosjean's poor track record this season - part of which has been the result of a few bad calls by the Frenchman himself, team mate Kevin Magnussen has enjoyed four point-scoring races, including a P6 finish in France.
"It seems to be always a difficult one, a driver going for it and one not," Steiner told Motorsport.com.
"We had it with Kevin last year, when he had a down period and people were picking on him. At the moment it’s Romain for whom it goes all wrong.
"It never seems to be raining, it’s always pouring. Then he’s trying to get back on his feet, then he gets a penalty, after a while it beats you down. But I think he’s strong enough to overcome it."
Steiner believes Grosjean has no other choice but to keep his head down until his fortunes turn around.
"It’s just keep on doing it. His performance was all good until Q3.
"What can I say? He will be back. I guess one day we will get them both in the points. I don’t think the points are far away for him."
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