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Romain Grosjean says critics of the Haas approach are jealous of the early success the team is having.
Haas has entered F1 this season with a close technical partnership with Ferrari, purchasing as many parts as is allowed within the regulations in order to start competitively. Grosjean believes critics of the approach are jealous of the team's impressive start following top six finishes in the opening two races.
Asked how closely he has been working with Ferrari so far this year, Grosjean replied: "No more than I was doing with Mercedes last year.
"Everyone likes to say it's a Ferrari base. It's not, it's a completely different philosophy. If you look at the wings, the sidepods, the nose. It's a Haas car. Yes we've got the mechanical parts from Ferrari, which save us a lot of hassle. But the rest is a Haas car."
And when asked if the comments about the Ferrari partnership are fuelled by jealousy, Grosjean replied: "100 per cent.
"There are two approaches - the Claire Williams approach, which is very nice, saying it's very good for Formula 1 that there's a new team coming, on top of that an American team, and being successful, it opens up the audience, opens it up to a big country, opens ideas up to other people that want to join Formula 1, and I am sure we would love to see 24, 26, 28 cars on the grid, it would be awesome.
"And then there are the people who are just jealous because they haven't achieved what we have done so far. They're just saying 'it's a Ferrari base, it's not the way it should be'. Come on, it's Formula 1."
Romain Grosjean column: A start beyond my craziest dream
Chris Medland's 2016 Chinese Grand Prix preview
PROFILE: Paddy Lowe, the pioneer
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
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