Q&A with Romain Grosjean after Melbourne

Romain gives us an insight into his Albert Park race debut, on a weekend which began as a fairytale story for the Frenchman, but ultimately lacked the happy ending it deserved.

Romain, so disappointing for you today. Tell us what happened

To begin with the start wasn’t very good so we need to look at what happened there. Then I think it was Pastor (Maldonado) who hit my car on lap 3 and that was it, my race was over. It’s frustrating as I really wanted to make the chequered flag and even the podium but there’s always the next race.

The contact was indeed with Maldonado ; talk us through it from your point of view.

From what I saw he braked far too late, and came across to hit my right front wheel which broke the steering. So that was it for me, I made sure to be careful through the opening laps but I can’t control the other drivers and there was no way I could have avoided it. Anyway, that’s racing and I’m sure next weekend will be much better.

Looking at the footage you seemed to give him enough space. On reflection is there anything you would have done differently?

We all slowed down for the yellow flags at turn 12 and I think he took advantage of that. I can’t move all the way into the gravel just to give someone space ; i’m not driving a 4x4 ! When you’re overtaking someone you have to leave at least enough space for that car to remain on the track and this was not the case here.

What happened at the start ? How difficult was it out there?

The launch was good, but then I had trouble shifting up from 1st to 2nd gear so we’ll need to have a look at the data there. We have another race next Sunday so we’ll go away and piece everything together to see where we can improve ready to come back stronger at the next race.

The good news is that the car looks good in terms of performance. Does this give you confidence going to Malaysia?

The car is performing very well. I was keeping pace with the guys in front of me and was pushing to get past so with a bit more luck I think we could have achieved a great result today. I’m disappointed for the team because they deserved better having worked so hard to give us a strong car.

Obviously this has been a disappointing day for you, but how quickly can you draw a line under this and focus on next Sunday?

Well, I wish I was standing here talking to you after the podium ceremony ! But it is what it is and tomorrow morning it will all be a memory. We’ll move on to Malaysia now which is one of my favourite circuits and focus on getting a result there.