After a retirement in Melbourne and 11th place in China, Romain Grosjean was pleased to score his first points of 2017 this weekend in Bahrain. It's his first time in the top ten since the US Grand Prix last October.
Grosjean struggled with handling issues with the Haas on Saturday and qualified in ninth place. But things were better on race day, and he was able to make up a place and finished in eighth.
"It was a pretty good race," he said. "I made a decent start and my first stint was pretty good."
Grosjean was initially stuck behind Nico Hulkenberg's Renault and opted to pit early in an attempt to gain track position. However the timing of the safety car on lap 12 meant he then found himself behind Serio Perez in the Force India.
"It was tough to stay behind the Renault," he said. "[Then] we had the bad luck with the safety car, as we’d pitted just before.
"I saw Perez come out and I thought, ‘How did he come out in front of me when he’d been 10 seconds behind?’ He gained 12 seconds with the safety car. That cost a position.
"At the restart I struggled a little bit with the top speed. But, eventually, we made the right strategy call and pushed on the good laps with some great overtaking.
"So, here we are, P8. It’s good to be here scoring points!"
The four points he earned in Bahrain puts Grosjean on an equal footing with team mate Kevin Magnussen who was eighth in China. However there was little cheer for the Dane this week, who retired just eight laps into the race.
"The car stopped for some reason. I don’t know what the cause is yet," he explained afterwards. "I had to stop, unfortunately. It happened suddenly – just the power disappeared.
"Conditions until then were pretty good. The tyre wear was a bit lower and it was easier on brakes. It would’ve been a good race."
Despite the disappointment, Magnussen said he was happy with the car and looking forward to the next race.
"It’s running in the points and qualifying in Q3. We’ve had three straight weekends where the car’s been in points positions. I’m looking forward to this continuing."
"Kevin had a problem with his electronics," team principal Guenther Steiner explained. "We don’t know yet what it is. The car just switched off and he had to park it.
"Romain fought a good battle," he added. We know where we are. We were not strong enough for Perez, but we were good enough to beat Hulkenberg. It’s a tight battle and, again, we got four points from here."
GALLERY: All the action from the Bahrain Grand Prix
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