Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsHaas F1 Team

Grosjean shrugs off front wing failure

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Romain Grosjean expects Haas to be able to run in the afternoon session after downplaying a front wing failure.

With 13 laps on the board on the new team's first morning of pre-season testing, Grosjean suffered a front wing failure on the pit straight which left debris on the track and caused the first red flag of the day. Speaking during the lunch break at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Grosjean said he is unconcerned by the failure.

GALLERY: Haas' VF-16

"I think they have maybe got a first clue but still investigating to make sure that doesn’t happen again," Grosjean said. "We’ve seen it with another team a few years ago but it’s nothing too bad.

"It may delay the day a little bit but hopefully we can go out this afternoon and do more mileage for the car, which is important."

While joking that the incident passed off "quite smoothly", Grosjean was encouraged by the start to testing Haas has made.

"It was pretty good. We had a bit of a delayed start today but then we went out on track and could do a few laps. We had a small front wing failure before the lunch break and I’m sure it will all be sorted earlier rather than later, so that’s good. The feeling in the car is good, so that’s very important for the guys to see what the driver was thinking.

"The car is feeling nice, it’s feeling good, so that’s very important. There’s a lot of work we need to achieve but so far I am pleased with what we did this morning."

Follow live coverage and timing from pre-season testing here

GALLERY: Pre-season testing day one

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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.