It wasn't the easiest of Fridays for Romain Grosjean at the Sepang International Circuit I Malaysia when the Frenchman endured a heavy crash with 20 minutes left in the second ninety minute session, caused when a loose drain cover on the apex of the right-hand turn 13 shredded the right-rear tire on his Haas VF-17.
This immediately sent Grosjean spinning off the track and into the barrier on the outside of the corner.
Thankfully he walked away unscathed, but his racecar sustained significant damage.
Prior to the crash, Grosjean recorded 18 laps with his best time coming on his eighth lap – a 1:34.118 set on Yellow soft tires.
“I think we've learned quite a lot today. It was wet in the morning and dry in the afternoon, so we had both running,” he said. “I think the competitiveness on soft tires was really good. We suffered a little bit on supersofts, but we're going to work around that.”
‘Unfortunately, we didn't get much long running due to the drain coming out and the crash. That ended our day. I think there are some positives. We've made some changes on the car that worked pretty well. I'm feeling sorry for the boys, as they've got to work hard to repair the car, but I know they will do it and in a good way.”
‘We'll try to find some key element on the setup to make us go fast tomorrow. I think the boys can do it. I'm looking forward to enjoying some more laps around Sepang.”
