“A very disappointing finish to the weekend. There’s nothing more to say.” That was the short and bitter summary of the Azerbaijan Grand prix for Haas made by team principal Guenther Steiner.
With less than 10 laps remaining, Haas was on its way to take advantage of the chaos and score its first double-points finish of the season.
Ultimately, the American team became a part of the chaos, with Kevin Magnussen finishing 13th and Romain Grosjean crashing out to earn 15th
Grosjean started last after a gearbox problem prevented him from posting a time in qualifying on Saturday. He took advantage of others’ miscues, rising to 13th. With plenty of debris on the track to clean up after the opening-lap skirmishes, the safety car was deployed, allowing Grosjean and Magnussen to duck into the pits. When the race restarted on lap six, Grosjean was 14th and Magnussen was 16th. A lap later, they were nose to tail in 14th and 15th.
On lap 40 Grosjean was already sixth after a spirited charge and some luck. The safety car was on the track again because of the Red Bulls’ crash. The Haas drivers were into the pits. After that, as Grosjean worked to build heat into his ultrasofts by weaving back-and-forth while under the safety car, his car broke loose, pitching him into the outside wall. Grosjean was unhurt, but his racecar was not. Fifteenth would be his finishing position.
“This hurts a lot and I want to apologize to the team”, Grosjean admitted
“We were in the middle of an amazing race, starting last and running P6. Seeing [Sergio] Perez on the podium, knowing I was fighting with him, is very painful for all of us. It was going very well. The conditions were tricky, there was a lot of wind, the car was going left and right, pushing then not pushing. I was warming up my tires and bumped into a switch that I’d moved by two positions. When I touched the brakes, the brake balance was locked rearward – it just locked the rear wheels and I spun.”
Every turn has a story. #HaasF1 | #F1 pic.twitter.com/KrNe6JWqup
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) May 3, 2018
With Grosjean out of the race, Magnussen moved up to 10th, providing the chance for the team to still come away with points. But when the race returned to green on lap 48, Magnussen tangled with the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly, dropping him to 14th. He picked up 13th on the third-to-last lap when race leader Valtteri Bottas suffered a flat right-rear tire on his Mercedes, ending his race. Later Magnussen apologized to Gasly for what happened between them.
“Obviously, things aren’t going our way at the moment. We still have a car that is performing well, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. We’ve got a competitive car that we can score points with, and on a regular basis if we have smooth weekends. I’m sure we’ll be alright. It’s just been a tough start to the season, especially when you see the potential in the car, it’s even more frustrating. We’ll come back from this. It was just a tough weekend overall”, Magnussen said.
“I don’t mind racing drivers which are hard, but like this is just way over the limit”
Watch the Baku incident that upset @PierreGASLY so much for yourself ⬇️ https://t.co/k3oQjViCNr
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 30, 2018
