Romain Grosjean says Toro Rosso-Honda’s surprise form is “amazing” for Formula 1, because it proves new manufacturers can come in and be successful.
After a difficult first race of 2018 in Australia, Pierre Gasly was best of the midfield F1 runners in the Bahrain Grand Prix, recording Honda’s best result since it returned in 2015 by finishing fourth.
Grosjean said the recent success stories of his Haas team and Honda’s new partnership with Toro Rosso shows what’s possible if you keep working hard and don’t give up.
“I wasn’t happy they were in front of us, but I’m happy that Honda, with a good collaboration with Toro Rosso, managed to get such a good result,” Grosjean said.
“Qualifying everyone was like, ‘oh in the race they’re gonna fall down’, but actually no, they finished fourth.
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“For Formula 1 in general it is amazing. It shows a constructor, like the Haas project, can be successful after three years. It’s great for Formula 1. It shows you can do it.”
Former Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz agreed, saying the team deserved the result for working so hard to adapt its car to the Honda engine.
“I saw the mechanics, I went down to shake hands with them and congratulate them,” he said.
“It’s good for them, they deserve it – they’ve pushed hard over the winter to get that engine back into the car, redesign the car. It’s a good story for Formula 1.”
Grosjean said the current unpredictability of form behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull made it “super exciting” to be involved in F1’s current midfield fight.
“In Melbourne it was Haas, Renault, McLaren, Toro Rosso; in Bahrain it was Toro Rosso, Haas, Renault, McLaren,” Grosjean added.
“It’s super tight and super exciting, and even in qualifying you know you need to get things right, and the same thing in the race.”
‘Bad communication’ caused Magnussen mix-up
Grosjean endured a difficult race in Bahrain, thanks to a damaged car, while team-mate Kevin Magnussen finished fifth behind Gasly.
But Grosjean and Magnussen almost collided at Turn 2 when Magnussen mistakenly thought Grosjean was letting him through, and Magnussen reacted furiously over team radio.
Grosjean explained the incident was the result of him being focused on racing Esteban Ocon’s Force India, plus the “unfortunate timing” of Magnussen’s second pitstop and “bad communication” from the team.
Team boss Gunther Steiner added: “We didn’t give clear instruction what to do, so there was confusion, therefore it came over very badly.
“We just got a little bit slow in reacting to it. I wouldn’t say it was wrong, we just need to be more clear about it.”
Magnussen said: “We’ve talked many times about what we do in those kind of situations.
“There’s a clear set of guidelines, so we’ve just got to stick to those.”