Grosjean still confident of long-term success at Haas

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Romain Grosjean has indicated that he's looking to stay at Haas F1 for several seasons to come, and that he and the team share a mutual aim - to clinch a world championship, sooner rather than later.

"When I joined I knew it wasn’t one year and I knew it needed to be a multi-year thing because it’s a new team,” Grosjean told Autosport magazine.

“The team and I know that I want to be world champion and I’m already 30, so I don’t have ten years in front of me," he added. "I may have seven or eight which is still a long time."

Grosjean is confident that his ambition is shared by the team's owner, billionaire businessman Gene Haas, who has already tasted championship success in the United States in the top tier of NASCAR stock car racing.

"I know one thing is Gene didn’t come into Formula One just to be here," said Grosjean. "He’s here because he wants to win, the same as [he did] in NASCAR."

There had been speculation that Grosjean and the team have been at odds behind the scenes after Grosjean was repeatedly outspoken and critical in public of the team's performance during its maiden season in Formula One.

"I’m just in a place where I’m driving, trying to push the team hard," Grosjean insisted, denying any rift. "Sometimes I’m not using the right words [but] it’s nothing personal, it’s all in perspective and going in a good direction.

“You don’t ask yourself is the team going to keep me on, does the team have faith in me, or where are we going," he added.

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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.