Grosjean only focused on his performance amid rumours over Haas future

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Romain Grosjean is only focusing on his results and performance amid speculation over his Haas future.

After he and teammate Kevin Magnussen collided in Britain, it was rumoured that team boss Guenther Steiner could oust the Frenchman and replace him with Esteban Ocon at the German Grand Prix.

That has proven inaccurate, although a question mark over his seat for 2020 remains, and ahead of the trip to Hockenheim, he plans to continue as business as usual.

“It doesn’t change much, to be fair," he said when asked if a strong result last year offers any confidence.

"I go to Hockenheim with the same objective as always. I’m always trying to do my best, get a good race and be proud of what you’ve done. If it’s a top-10, great. But if it’s not, you’ve given your maximum.”

Haas will also continue with a split approach to their car specification, as Grosjean uses the Melbourne-spec, while Magnussen will use new upgrades brought to Germany.

“It was a good test to do. It was a tough call from the team, but a good test," he said, after also running the same spec at Silverstone.

"When we brought the upgrade in Barcelona, I wanted to revert back on the Friday evening. For me, the feeling was not so good from the rear end, especially through medium and high-speed corners.

"The feeling hasn’t been good in those corners since then and going back to the Melbourne package, the car felt a lot better in those regions.

"It shows that something was not working as expected. Now the aero guys are looking into it, but we know it’s been our weakness. Obviously, that launch package has some limitations also. It has less downforce, but it has better stability.”

As for the updated package on Magnussen's car, Steiner explained: “We’ve changed a few parts on the car. There’s not one specific area we’re targeting.

"We’re just making the car, in general, better, more drivable with more downforce, which always helps you go fast.

"We’re trying to make the tyres work better for us. That’s the biggest improvement we can make at the moment – getting into the window of the tire – and that’s got a lot to do with downforce.”  

Ahead of the weekend, there were also some questions over whether the Rich Energy branding would remain after the turmoil at Silverstone.

So far, however, all the black and gold branding has remained with the name still featured on official team statements.

 

         

 

 

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