Romain Grosjean says last July's German Grand Prix was a defining moment in his 2018 season, and one that extracted him from a difficult situation that had put his future at Haas in jeopardy.
Last week, the US outfit confirmed its driver line-up for next season, with Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen remaining together at Haas for a third consecutive year.
There had been doubts over the summer however about the French driver's future in F1 following a troubled first half of the year that included painful blunders in Spain and in Azerbaikjan.
But Grosjean eventually got his act together, with the German Grand Prix weekend at Hockenheim providing him with a breakthrough moment.
"It was the point and I knew it, I found what were the issues before and worked them through. I knew from Germany I was back on form," he remembered.
While Grosjean and Magnussen were deprived of a likely top-ten finish at the opening round in Melbourne through no fault of their own after the team made a mess of both drivers' pitstop, the Frenchman endured thereafter a seven-race pointless streak while his team mate enjoyed a more consistent period of performance with Haas' VF-18.
Grosjean put an end to his bad spell in Austria, securing a P5 spot in qualifying before achieving a flawless run to fourth on Sunday, equaling the team's best ever result.
"Things had to turn at one point," he said. "The season looked worse than it was actually was sometimes because of bad luck.
"Bahrain I was in the points and lost half the car [when bodywork broke], then Canada I think I was scoring points and didn't make qualifying.
"Silverstone was the time when [I thought], 'OK, I need to understand things and make sure that things are going my way all the time'. Then Germany and Hungary I knew I was back on track."
As he made adjustments to his approach and sought to correct his situation, Grosjean benefitted from Haas' patience and support, with team boss Guenther Steiner delaying a decision on the outfit's 2019 driver line-up to give the Frenchman a chance to state his case.
"They know what I have done for the team and I think they were patient and that was great," said a clearly appreciative Grosjean.
"They are racers and they do understand racing and there were no reasons for me not to be the same as before.
"There are a lot of drivers willing to drive for no money or no salary, so it is not easy to keep your seat," he added.
"But experience is something you cannot buy and I guess for a team like Haas that is still developing and growing, an experienced driver is very important."
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