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F1 Russian GP: Grosjean: China a negative now but a positive in the future

Romain Grosjean has reiterated his team's view that it can use a disappointing race in China as a learning experience and is optimistic Haas can use it as a boost in the future.

The French driver was on the verge of retiring his Haas car towards the end of the Chinese Grand Prix due to technical and handling problems but on the demands of the team nursed it to the chequered flag in 19th, while his team-mate Esteban Gutierrez achieved his first finish of the season in 14th place.

After calling the race 'a reality check' Haas hopes to learn from the issues Grosjean suffered and put it right in Russia this weekend.

Grosjean is confident the experience in China will help him and his team later in the year to avoid repeat problems and believes the Sochi circuit will suit the VF-16's strengths.

"It was a difficult weekend for us [in China and certainly not the outcome we had wanted," Grosjean said. "It still feels like it was a negative weekend, but in the near future, I'm sure we'll see positives from it because it's in the tough situations you learn the most. Hopefully, we can learn what happened.

"If anything was wrong with the car, what can we do better? What can we do differently? How do we react in a better way if we find ourselves in a similar situation? I think it's one of those things you have to face as a new team, but I'm sure we're going to react very well, as we have done so far every time."

"China is one of those tracks where it's completely front-limited. The front-left tyre suffers the most from the circuit. Russia is a very different one. It's going to be more in line with Bahrain, so that's going to be great. I hope we get the car back to where we want it and the better the setup, the easier it is to manage your tyres."

Zdroj: crash.net