Romain Grosjean puts Haas F1 back in the points on home soil

Haas F1 Team, the first American Formula One team in 30 years and headquartered n Kannapolis, came away with a point-paying result in its first race in America, thanks to driver Romain Grosjean.

In his 100th Formula One start, Grosjean drove his Haas VF-16 to finish in the United States Grand Prix on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. It was Grosjean’s fifth point-paying result this season and his first since the July 3 Austrian Grand Prix, where he finished seventh. While his teammate Esteban Gutierrez failed to finish the race due to a mechanical issue, the team’s French driver Romain Grosjean crossed the line in 10th place. It marked a somewhat overdue return to the points for Haas F1, in its first race on home soil.

“It didn’t go too badly today. It was a bit of a messy first lap, but I managed to get through everything," Grosjean was quoted by WBTV as saying. "Then we went with an aggressive strategy trying to go for it. That worked out pretty well, so I’m happy with that. We were lucky that a few cars retired in front of us but, in the end, we needed to finish the race. It’s great to score a point in front of our home crowd. I’m very pleased with that and for the guys, as well. It’s been a long time since we scored. It’s obviously a great thing to be able to score points at the end of the season.”

Grosjean had started from 17th on the grid after failing to advance out of the first session in qualifying. After a chaotic opening lap at the back of the field, he found himself in 14th at the end of first lap, and then used an aggressive two-stop strategy to make it to the line in 10th. Grosjean passed his teammate for 11th on lap seven as they entered turn 12 and held the spot until his first pit stop at the end of lap 10.

A set of new Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tires replaced the Red supersofts he used to start the race, and Grosjean quickly resumed his attack. He passed the Toro Rosso of Daniil Kyvatt for 12th on lap 22 and then gave chase to the Force India of Sergio Perez.

While Grosjean enjoyed a strong run in the United States Grand Prix, Gutiérrez’s run was cut short after 16 laps around the 3.426-mile, 20-turn circuit. A left-front brake failure sidelined his promising drive and left him instead with a 21st-place finish.

Despite being pleased to score points in front of the team’s home fans, Grosjean hopes to score points in the remaining races of the season, he emphasises that the team’s main focus now is working on improving the car for next season.

“ The idea, if we’re eighth in the championship this year, is to be seventh or better next year,” explained Grosjean. “We don’t want to be where we are in the first year, we want to improve, and a lot of people are expecting us to struggle next year, but I have a lot of faith in the people working back in the factory and in the team that we are.”