American-based Haas F1 team scores again with fifth in Bahrain GP
A well-timed Safety Car led many to wonder whether Romain Grosjean’s sixth place finish for the newly-formed Haas F1 Team in Australia had been a fluke. However, the Frenchman proved those skeptics wrong in Sakhir, Bahrain on Sunday with a fifth-place finish.
As a result, the 29-year-old - racing for the outfit based out of Kannapolis, N.C. - now sits fifth in the points after the opening two races of the season - only being beaten by the Mercedes teammates as well as Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
"This is the American dream," said Grosjean. "It is unbelievable. I said we had to manage our expectations after we finished sixth in Australia, but here we finished fifth. There’s still a lot of things we can do better, from pit stops to the setup of the car and so on but, for now, this one is for the guys. I looked at their faces last night and they were all very tired because of the amount of work we’re doing. This is a massive reward. Really, just unbelievable. In the race, I had a good feeling in the car. It was an aggressive strategy, but managing tires has always been my strength in the past. Knowing we had a softer compound for this racetrack was something I liked. The car was set up well for the supersoft tires and I had a fantastic race. The car has a very good baseline. Everything is working well. I don’t think I’ve ever been as high as fifth in the driver standings. This is the first time in my career, I can’t believe it."
Unfortunately for Grosjean’s teammate Esteban Gutierrez, he again found himself unable to make it to the end of the race, after suffering from a mechanical failure mid-race.
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