Romain Grosjean has put the Melbourne “jinx” behind him and is targeting another strong weekend in Bahrain.
Haas has once again started the year as the midfield team to beat, qualifying sixth and seventh in Australia with Kevin Magnussen finishing ‘best of the rest’ in P6.
Once again it has stirred a conversation about so-called ‘B-teams’ given their links to Ferrari, but the Frenchman is ignoring that and is looking forward to a chance at redemption at Sakhir.
“Absolutely, our car showed that it was fast in Barcelona and in Australia, so I don’t foresee anything different for Bahrain,” he said on if a repeat was possible.
“We’re very satisfied. Credit goes to the whole team. They did a fantastic job to adapt to the new rules and design and produce a car which is competitive.”
Also Read:
Grosjean also played down the horrible case of deja vu in the season-opener when a loose wheel after a pit-stop cost him a solid points haul.
“It was one of those things that just happened, and it always seems to happen in Australia,” he sighed.
“It seems to be a jinxed place for us as it was on the front-left wheel we had problems last year with it and again this year. It was just an error on the pit stop.
“Again, you can’t do anything else but to practice, stay calm and just do a good job, like we did all year following Australia. In 20 other races in 2018, we didn’t have an issue on pit stops, so I’m confident we can get out of this one again.”
RT TroIISports: Deja vu for Romain Grosjean and Haas at #AusGP pic.twitter.com/0S0JdPR1Bw
— Ophicial Manando ⚽ (@ophicialmanando) March 17, 2019
And as long as a repeat is avoided, Grosjean is eager to get back involved in the very tense battle behind the top three teams.
“It’s great for Formula 1 to have a battle like this in the midfield,” he stated. “I think it’s very tight and we’re looking forward to the battle because it’s always good to go to the racetrack and have something to fight for.
“It would be fantastic if this was at the front – if it could be for first, second and third. Nearly every race could have a different winner and the podium would be filled by more than just three teams!” Grosjean smiled.