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Grosjean: F1 needs more crazy dreamers like Haas

Grosjean: F1 needs more "crazy dreamers" like Haas

15-12-2018 11:30
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Bobby Vincent

Romain Grosjean believes Formula 1 would benefit from more new teams who have "crazy dreams" like his Haas team do.

Haas joined the F1 grid back in 2016 and they've enjoyed drastic improvements throughout their two-season spell in the competition so far; most recently, finishing in fifth position in the Constructors' Championship.

"Haas is one of the things that make F1 great," Grosjean said on a recent column for The Players' Tribune. "The team is filled with determined goal-setters, out-of-the-box technical thinkers and yes, even crazy dreamers.

"I'm lucky to be a part of this team. F1 needs more teams like Haas."

Grosjean also reflected on the team's debut weekend in F1, back in Australia in 2016.

"Our first Grand Prix in Australia in 2016 was chaotic," Grosjean explained. "We didn't get a lot of laps in pre-season testing so we had barely any information on the car going into Melbourne.

"Then it rained on Friday; so no laps. We didn't even know if the radio worked. On Saturday, we finally got out of the garage and someone hit us in the pit lane. We had to change the floor on the car and we missed even more time.

"Then qualifying was a disaster, because F1 had implemented that new, ridiculous elimination-style quali that ended up getting removed a few weeks later. But then Sunday happened. And the race ended, and we were in sixth place. P6. In the points. Unbelievable. Truly amazing.

"Beforehand, we thought we might be lucky to finish the race. Our telemetry failed during the race. Our radio failed at times. Our car hadn't even driven a full race distance leading up to that weekend."