09/07/2020
NEWS STORY
Romain Grosjean has revealed that the brake issue the led to him retiring from the Austrian Grand Prix on the 49th lap, and his teammate 25 laps earlier, was due to overheating.
While the American team, and in particular Grosjean, has been plagued by brake problems in the past, the Frenchman says last week was different.
"It is very different from what we had in the past," he told reporters at the Red Bull Ring today. "It was temperature related and obviously our cooling has not been efficient enough, especially in traffic."
"We're looking at different options to get the brakes under control," he revealed. "It is never great starting a race knowing that you need by lap two to lift and coast to save the brakes.
"The boys have been looking at as many options as they could," he continued. "We have one more emergency step I believe in the pocket. But I guess tomorrow morning and afternoon we will be focused on getting those temperatures under control."
While Grosjean made it into Q2 last week, he was the slowest in the second phase, as the Haas pair, like their counterparts at Alfa Romeo, appeared to suffer the same lack of pace as all those using the Ferrari power unit.
Indeed, the Frenchman doesn't hold out much hope for this weekend, other than the weather gods.
"This weekend could be very similar to last," he said. "Except it might rain on Saturday so that might make a difference. But then we go to Hungary which is a different layout, and then Silverstone will be another one, so I think we will wait, we will see.
"What we know is that there are not any big upgrade plans on the car, some are not expecting a big step in performance in terms of the car itself. But again it was only the first weekend and we can always try to fine-tune a few things. We have ideas in mind for this weekend, and see if we can improve.
"The midfield is quite tight, which is exciting. I think, two-tenths can make a world of difference here. And two-tenths, if you think about it, is not too much.
"We will just wait and see, see if we can unlock some more potential in the car. We have made some changes on the set up and I am hopeful that they will give us a tiny bit of an advantage."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Spielberg, here.