JUNE 23, 2018

Haas boss Steiner says Grosjean back on form

Romain Grosjean has boosted his chances of staying at Haas for 2019.

Romain Grosjean, French GP 2018
© The Cahier Archive

Romain Grosjean has boosted his chances of staying at Haas for 2019.

Earlier, the less handsomely paid Kevin Magnussen looked easily the best Haas driver of 2019, as Frenchman Grosjean struggled for pace and got involved in crashes.

Both are out of contract this year and team boss Gunther Steiner says there will be no decision about 2019 "before the summer break".

He is, though, happy that Grosjean appears to have returned to form.

"For me, the focus was always on bringing Romain back to the performance he is capable of," Steiner said.

"He did well in Canada although there were no points, but I feel that he regained his former self confidence. The recent improvements to the car were good for him," he added.

Steiner is therefore not ruling out a new contract for 32-year-old Grosjean, but says the matter is on hold until the end of August.

"We have a competitive car, but for various reasons we have not been able to implement it. There are no excuses for that," he said.

"We have to manage every grand prix weekend so that both cars can be in the points. At the moment everything goes wrong too often."

(GMM)