Haas F1 can continue “scaring” Renault but need to make key changes to the operation to do so, says driver Romain Grosjean.
The American outfit pushed the French manufacturer in the battle for ‘best of the rest’ in the Constructors’ Championship but some notable results went against them late on.
Such was their rivalry, however, Renault went as far as successfully protesting Haas at the Italian Grand Prix, where Grosjean was excluded for a floor infringement.
“I don’t think it was a great sportsmanship move,” the Frenchman told Autosport about the events of Monza. “But yes, we were scaring them, which is good. They should be [scared] for the future.”
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One thing the former Lotus driver did admit, however, was Renault simply took advantage of a situation which Haas brought on themselves through their current structure.
“We don’t produce [our own] parts, so we need to manufacture them outside and sometimes it takes a bit too long,” Grosjean explained.
“That is one example that I can give out of a few [things we need to improve]. When it would take three days [for them], for our team it maybe takes three weeks.
“Like the floor, we didn’t have the time to change it for Monza, that was the only thing.
“The performance gain is zero. Absolutely zero, but we just didn’t have the time to do it for Monza and Renault played on it.”
Haas has been the focus of many teams ever since they arrived in 2016 for their outsourcing of parts and the close technical partnership with Ferrari which most point to as the reason for their rapid success.