F1 | Haas, Romain Grosjean: “Really happy for Pierre, nice to see a Frenchman on the podium again”

Still nothing to do for the Haas: in a race full of surprises, the American team failed to take advantage of events, and returned home with a twelfth place for Romain Grosjean and a retirement for Kevin Magnussen. The Danish driver already suffered damage to his front wing on the first lap, but later in the race, probable damage to the power unit forced him to retire, parking his Haas on the grass of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza.

"I was involved in a three-way collision in Turn 1 on the first lap. I was in a sandwich and ended up with a damaged front wing – Magnussen said after retiring – I had to pit, get back on track with a new wing and my pace was really, really good. We didn't expect it. This is why it is even sadder to have abandoned the race so early. With our pace we managed to be on the same time as the McLarens, I would have liked to see what we could have done with these performances. The race was eventful though, just the kind of race I would have liked to run".

Romain Grosjean, however, was happy despite his result: the Frenchman, still tied, immediately went to greet his compatriot Pierre Gasly, with his first victory in Formula 1.

"Unfortunately, that's our potential, and we ended up where we could – commented Grosjean, who crossed the checkered flag in twelfth position – It was a tough race, I gave it my all, as always. There was a fun battle with George Russell, we really pushed ourselves to the limit. Everything was great, the tyres, the brakes, the energy and so on. I think it's an important day, however, for Pierre Gasly, it was also a great victory for France, and for him after last year. It's been 24 years since the last time a Frenchman won a grand prix, the last being Olivier Panis in 1996. Nice, I'm really happy for him".