F1 Half Term Report: Rate the Grid - Romain Grosjean

[Paul Jeffrey]

Haas F1 team leader and talented Frenchman Romain Grosjean is the subject of today's 'Rate the Grid' feature.

Having another up and down season in the Haas team, Grosjean has often shown his outright pace and ability to mix it with other cars out on the track, however persistent mechanical issues and brake problems continue to plague the unlucky Frenchman, holding back what is undoubtedly a superb talent behind the wheel of a Grand Prix car.

Fresh of the back of dominating his 2016 team mate Esteban Gutierrez, new Haas partner Kevin Magnussen has proven more of a competitive force in the second American car, holding Grosjean close in many of the races held so far and remaining just seven points behind his team leader.

Despite the many car issues experienced by Grosjean in 2017, the former Renault man continues to prove himself worthy of a drive much further up the Grand Prix grid.

Vote now to tell us how you rate the first half of 2017 for Romain Grosjean, and leave a comment below!

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[Leonardo Chaves]

Grosjean is having another solid season, as we come to expect from him.

 

[Mantas Jokubauskas]

I rated 8. Another solid season for him, and his reputation of being a crash-driver is slowly turning away. More sensitive to bad set-up than Magnussen ("brakes", anyone?), but when he gets a decent set-up he's fast. Best example is probably Austria.

 

[Coffer]

7. He's been solid, just like Magnussen. Complains about the brakes a lot, but his maximum pace is among the highest in the sport right now, and the two teammates compensate for one another pretty decently. Once the quality of their actual cars starts going up a little, Haas will be a team to watch for sure.

 

[Matthew Allington]

Capable guy who's berid himself of his crippling crashing habit. This season's been wishy-washy though - half the time he's been struggling to get out of Q1 ("waa waa brakes!") and at other times he's been solid top 10 material.

 

[wombat999]

Rated 6.
Not the season I expected from him so far but fair enough all things considered.
My only suggestion to Romain would be to stay off the comms and focus on his driving.

 

[Coffer]

Capable guy who's berid himself of his crippling crashing habit. This season's been wishy-washy though - half the time he's been struggling to get out of Q1 ("waa waa brakes!") and at other times he's been solid top 10 material.

Given how awful the car is, I see no reason to fault him for the brakes. They really are terrible, and him outscoring Magnussen shows that driving around the problem isn't the solution. He's massively held back by the car right now.

 

[Joakim Stensnæs]

Given how awful the car is, I see no reason to fault him for the brakes. They really are terrible, and him outscoring Magnussen shows that driving around the problem isn't the solution. He's massively held back by the car right now.

Looking at points doesn't really tell you a whole lot about the season for the individual driver rivalries. The race that made grosjean jump magnussen was a race where magnussen arguably was faster. Faster in all of practice, and the first flyer (his only actual q lap), was also faster than grosjean. And even though Magnussen didn't get to do another lap late in the session where the track was obviously much faster, he's first lap was still able to get him through to q2.

That race was so 50/50 to watch as a Haas fan. So happy that Grosjean managed to do as well as he did, awesome to watch him fight at the front at the start of the race as well, but so sad to see magnussen with so much trouble that weekend. Would've been an awesome battle between the two, and that's the thing that's missing from Haas atm. They've yet to have a weekend where both drivers are fast and able to battle eachother.

Hopefully the 2nd half will bring a race or two where this is the case #Excited

 

[Jimlaad43]

I was trying to vote 10, but my mouse button brake system broke.

 

[Jan Larsen]

6. Held back (according to his own words) by brakes that work on and off to his liking. The fact its STILL an ongoing issue is hilarious and that both driver and team havent been able to fix it yet is astonishing.
Good driver when the car is right on the money, terrible when just a little off. Long gone are his crash strewn days (it helped growing up and maturing) and has shown capability to be right up there with the big boys when the machinery is capable of the same. Not proven his worth yet to earn a top team seat, but if he continues to improve steadily, that could change.

 

[John Jorell]

Gonna give Romain a 7. He really tries to maximize the potential of his car most especially in race days and it pays off specially when he makes a good car set-up.

 

[oorjit07]

I rated him 6. He's had some good moments, but he's also been behind Magnussen for quite a few races, but KMag has had worse luck.

 

[James Cook]

I like Grosjean a lot. He's a very talented driver, deserving of a better seat. Plus his radio chat always brightens my F1 viewing.

 

[Glaurung]

He's one of the most talented drivers IMO.
I hope that one day or anorher he and Nico Hulkemberg will manage to get a more competitive wheel in their hands.

 

[GianmarcoFiduci]

Grosjean is one of my favorites, always thought that he was great, even in 2012 . I hope for a better seat for him, i always wanted him at Ferrari when Kimi retires.. But of course that seat is going to Leclerc so it's a shame for Romain. That podium with the 2015 Lotus at Spa was absolutely fantastic.
This year he's fast as always, he has more points than Magnussen (not a surprise) and he's not more a "crashy" driver.

 

[Peter Hooper]

I gave him a 6 but was torn between that and 7. He has made big strides in the years since those crash strewn early days and is a strong driver when the car allows. I marked him down to 6 rather than 7 though because I think he lets things get to him too much and loses his focus as a result at times. He could learn from Magnusson in that respect.

 

[Mr Latte]

I need a BRAKE

 

[Rob]

Grosjean is having another solid season, as we come to expect from him.

7 here. Surprised you bastards are agreeing with me. I don't think 'ol Gene is capable of picking a bad driver. (And he pays them too...Claire ).

 

[Coffer]

Looking at points doesn't really tell you a whole lot about the season for the individual driver rivalries. The race that made grosjean jump magnussen was a race where magnussen arguably was faster.

Questionable at best as Grosjean upped his pace in the later stages of qualifying and it stayed there for the entire rest of the weekend. Even if Magnussen's car hadn't failed, he would've very likely lost the team battle, which would still put Grosjean ahead in the standings.

Faster in all of practice, and the first flyer (his only actual q lap), was also faster than grosjean.

We've already seen, through Ricciardo, just how meaningless that is this season. It's now all about delivering in the final session and in the race.

 

[Thang Nguyen]

He finished 6th in the Austria GP, so I give him 8.