Romain Grosjean wants more "gentlemanly" drivers on opening laps

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17:21, 01 Oct 2019

Romain Grosjean's Russian Grand Prix ended prematurely when he collided with Antonio Giovinazzi and Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap. The Haas driver has called for drivers to be more "gentlemanly" on the opening lap to try and limit the number of first-lap crashes.

"You break your balls all weekend long to get a good car and work really hard, you're taken off in Turn 4 of a 53-lap race by a very aggressive move, so I'm not very happy," Grosjean said to Motorsport.com.

"The decision? Racing incident, it's lap one of the race, why not? But I felt like the last few first laps have been quite aggressive in general.

"Maybe we should be a bit more gentlemanly between us and think that there's a long race ahead.

"I'm not blaming anyone. I just think it was very avoidable and maybe a bit too aggressive from some."

Grosjean feels that Formula 1 drivers need to have more respect for each other and that incidents like the one at the Russian Grand Prix can be avoided.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli Kimi Antonelli	MercedesMER	131
2	George Russell George Russell	MercedesMER	88
3	Charles Leclerc Charles Leclerc	FerrariFER	75
4	Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton	FerrariFER	72
5	Lando Norris Lando Norris	McLarenMCL	58
6	Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri	McLarenMCL	48
7	Max Verstappen Max Verstappen	Red Bull RacingRBR	43
8	Pierre Gasly Pierre Gasly	AlpineALP	20
9	Oliver Bearman Oliver Bearman	HaasHAA	18
10	Liam Lawson Liam Lawson	Racing BullsRCB	16
11	Franco Colapinto Franco Colapinto	AlpineALP	15
12	Isack Hadjar Isack Hadjar	Red Bull RacingRBR	14
13	Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz	WilliamsWIL	6
14	Arvid Lindblad Arvid Lindblad	Racing BullsRCB	5
15	Gabriel Bortoleto Gabriel Bortoleto	AudiAUD	2
16	Esteban Ocon Esteban Ocon	HaasHAA	1
17	Alexander Albon Alexander Albon	WilliamsWIL	1
18	Nico Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg	AudiAUD	0
19	Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Bottas	CadillacCAD	0
20	Sergio Perez Sergio Perez	CadillacCAD	0
21	Lance Stroll Lance Stroll	Aston MartinAST	0
22	Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso	Aston MartinAST	0

Romain Grosjean wants more "gentlemanly" drivers on opening laps

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