Symonds 'very impressed' by Grosjean

Renault engineering chief Pat Symonds admits he was “very impressed” with Romain Grosjean’s performance on Friday in Valencia after the Frenchman enjoyed a solid start to his debut race weekend.

Despite never having previously driven the R29 and last competing in an official Formula 1 test in July 2008, the 23-year-old Frenchman acquitted himself well throughout practice and ended the day in a competitive 13th position having finished four places lower in the early running.

Symonds was encouraged by Grosjean’s mature approach to the practice sessions and the fact he consistently improved his times throughout the two sessions.

“We would like to welcome Romain to the team and I have to say I was very impressed with his progress today,” he said.

“He was pushing hard yet driving within himself and making steady progress.”
Grosjean himself was pleased to end his first day without making any major errors in an unfamiliar car.

He says he learnt a lot from experienced team-mate Fernando Alonso’s approach to practice and is now looking to continue his progress on the times in final practice and qualifying.

“The day has gone pretty well,” the former GP2 driver said.

“Your first time in a new car is always tricky, but I did my best and having Fernando next to me meant I could see how he approached the sessions and that helped me a lot.

“So I think today I have made good progress and tomorrow I will aim to continue in the same way.”

Grosjean ended the day 1.3s slower than Alonso after his team-mate produced a stunning late quickest lap to top the times, but set a similar best lap time to the lead Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Toyota drivers.

Source: ITV