Haas critics show "lack of respect", says Grosjean

Haas is locked in a tight fight with Renault for fourth place in the constructors’ championship, with it currently appealing Grosjean’s disqualification from the Italian Grand Prix after a protest from the French car manufacturer.

That recent controversy comes on the back of previous sniping from other teams about its different approach to F1, where Haas buys as much of it car from Ferrari as the rules allow.

Grosjean says that the team is not fussed about rivals sniping, but he does think it slightly unfair considering the impressive job the team is doing.

“It makes us laugh,” said Grosjean, when asked by Motorsport.com about the disruption Haas has caused. “Ferrari B [team]. We’ve been called that a few times.

“It’s a lack of respect for the people working on the project. We’ve had a different way of coming into Formula 1, and find me a team in the past that has been fighting in its third year for fourth in the championship.

“Against Renault, which has maybe 700 employees, and Force India that have had a really good run, and McLaren, which is a massive team.

“It’s great to see it’s possible to achieve. It’s always going to make some people happy and some less happy.”

The Renault protest against Haas came after Grosjean’s sixth place finish at Monza was enough to move his team ahead of its French rival in the standings.

Grosjean does not think, however, that his team would have taken similar action if it had been in a similar situation.

“We’re not here to play, but I don’t know if we would have acted the same,” he said. 

“Everyone’s got a different way of dealing with trying to get a position. But yeah it’s a lot of money involved. It’s business. It is serious. But I’m not sure we would have done the same.”

And although disappointed that his efforts in Italy were taken away, Grosjean says the events have acted as an extra motivation to the team to beat Renault.

“I got the news when I was driving back home,” he said about the disqualification. “It’s never the way you want it to be.

“To be fair, and to be honest, I don’t know the full story. I think we’re going to fight as hard as we can to get those points back for the team, for the constructors’, for the sake of saying we don’t think we were off the rules.

“But anyway it just gives us extra motivation for the constructors’ championship. I’m not sure we needed it but we’re even more hungry.”

Romain Grosjean, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images