Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsHaas F1 Team

Grosjean shows value of experience over pay driver - Steiner

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Guenther Steiner says Romain Grosjean's performances have vindicated Haas' decision not to opt for a pay driver in its first season.

Many new teams often have to seek substantial funds when hiring drivers, with rookies tending to get their first opportunities at the back of the grid. Haas opted to recruit Grosjean from Lotus and Ferrari test driver Esteban Gutierrez and team principal Steiner says the decision has already paid off after the Frenchman finished in the top six in each of the first two races.

"I think he has paid for himself already," Steiner said. "We needed a known quantity and we have got a known quantity. If we had someone else, a pay driver, maybe we would not be where we are. "We would question ourselves, 'is the material good enough?' 'Is the car good enough?'

"We know now because he pulled it off. We know now where we are. For sure that is what we wanted to achieve with getting a driver of his calibre. We achieved it with him and he is doing a fantastic job for us."

And Steiner has also been pleased with the performances of the team members behind the scenes as Haas continues to find its feet.

"Very happy to be honest. They did a good job and [in Bahrain] we still had late nights but it wasn't at the limit like it was in Australia. We had to expect that. The good thing is we're making progress. As long as we make progress, we are good, we are going in the right direction. The day we stagnate is when I will say I'm not happy anymore. We are making good progress with the team so I would say we are where we want to be."

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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.