Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsLotus F1

Grosjean wants French flag on top of podium

Romain Grosjean says the best tribute he can give to victims of the Paris attacks is to "put the French flag on the top of the podium" in Brazil.

Over 120 people were killed and many more injured in a number of attacks in the French capital on Friday night, with Grosjean sporting the Tricolore throughout running at Interlagos on Saturday. Asked if he would be planning another tribute on Sunday, Grosjean says his focus has to be on delivering the best race possible.

“I think the best thing we can do is try to put the French flag on top of the podium," Grosjean said. "It’s going to be hard but let’s do a race, think about what happened and hope that peace comes back quickly.”

And Grosjean admits it has been a difficult day for him on Saturday, saying it was crucial he kept his concentration when driving.

“Well I think when you are in the car you need to think about what you are doing because it’s a dangerous sport and you need to be 100% focused. Outside the car, yeah it’s a bit of a special day.

"My family is in Paris so I called them last night because I was worried. I am lucky, I am not aware of friends that were involved but I have a lot of them in the Stade de France and some others in Paris so it’s a bit of a shock for everyone. Why? That is the question. Why would you do so? Let’s hope peace comes back quickly.”

The Frenchman qualified 15th after spinning in Q2 and he admits he was pushing too hard as he made two mistake late in his qualifying session.

“The first attempt yes I braked too late in to Turn 1. I asked the guys just to go for one timed lap and that was a bit too optimistic from my side so maybe it should have been for two push laps. So I locked up and aborted the lap. Then on the second attempt in Q2 I don’t really understand what happened in Turn 6. I wasn’t quicker than the previous lap, a little bit more brakes but nothing crazy just lost the rear end. So we need to analyse exactly what happened because it just looks like we lost the rear for no real reason.

"I think Q3 was possible. That was our target and we’ve been competitive all weekend long so it’s a shame that it ended up like this. Tomorrow is a long race, we have plenty of new tyres, strategy is interesting with the degradation so we will do our best. But, yeah, not the best day in the car.”

REPORT: Rosberg takes fifth pole in a row by 0.078s

AS IT HAPPENED: Brazilian Grand Prix - qualifying

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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.