Romain Grosjean said it was "very positive" to return Haas to the points at the Russian Grand Prix after a weekend of struggling with tyres.

Grosjean and teammate Esteban Gutierrez had been lacking pace at the Sochi Autodrom but the Frenchman benefited from first-lap incidents and the subsequent safety car to finish eighth, holding off Force India's Sergio Perez at the end.

"It's great to be back in the points, especially after a very difficult weekend where we were never very happy with the car. It was a good first lap to avoid all the incidents, and then I kept Perez behind. There are still so many things we can improve on the car. I'm still not a hundred percent happy with the behavior. I think for the next race it's going to be so much better. It's very positive knowing that we have something that will become better."

The safety car was in part triggered by Gutierrez colliding with Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 2 and team boss Guenther Steiner admits that may have inadvertently helped Grosjean's cause.

"It's difficult for me to say what would have happened [with no crash] because if the accidents hadn't have happened maybe Romain wouldn't have gone there," Steiner said. "I don't know. It's difficult to say.

"If it would have been a race like in China I don't think he could have finished eighth. We know that. With the havoc at the beginning of the race it put Romain in a good position and Esteban in a bad one so you win one you lose the other one. It's basic life, you cannot win them all."

Gutierrez, meanwhile, laboured to 17th after having to pit at the end of lap one for a new front wing and then serve a drive-through penalty for the collision with Hulkenberg.

The Mexican driver said: "It was a tough race from the beginning. It was definitely not a nice start. I arrived at the first corner with a lot of space in front and I braked but, unfortunately, I couldn't stop the car and I ran into Nico. It's a shame not only for me but for him, as well. I tried to do my best to recover the race but, obviously, we got the penalty and lost a lot of track time. However, I pushed until the end and we managed to finish the race, which was a good thing. We now need to focus on the next race in Barcelona."

Source:
courtesy of ESPN

by Nate Saunders

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