Romain Grosjean has made 83 starts to far in his Formula One career since his maiden outing in the 2009 European Grand Prix. However, despite all that experience of Grand Prix racing he still rates the chance to be on the ground floor of the launch of the brand new Haas F1 Team to be a one-off chance that he simply couldn't pass up.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, being part of a new team and driving the car out of the garage for the first time, especially with Haas being an American team," said the 29-year-old, who last year raced with the Lotus F1 team.
"It’s been a unique experience. It’s good to be able to give your advice, give your feedback. All the engineers have been listening a lot. Everyone is an important piece of the puzzle and we’re all trying to do our best. Team spirit is important in a sport like Formula One."
Being the new kids on the block does mean that the Haas team is very much learning on the run, especially given the limited amount of pre-season testing that had been available.
"Eight days is not a lot of testing, but coming from scratch, where we started, it’s been impressive," Grosjean admitted. "The first week went very well. There were a few good surprises, a few less fun but, generally, the team has been impressive.
"There are always up and downs and things you need to do. There’s some boring stuff and some fun stuff.
"The Formula One world has been impressed by the fact that we were in Barcelona and able to go out and do some good laps," noting that the new VF-16 car was proving to be "a good car with a really good baseline."
"I felt comfortable straight away in the car. There are a few things we can still adapt and get better but, in general, I was very happy with the way the VF-16 has been working.
""Everyone is looking forward to going to the first race," he added, while keeping his expectations for Melbourne firmly under control.
"It’s early to set goals but, of course, we want to score points as early as possible in the season."
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