Formula 1

"Grosjean: First win is just around the corner

Lotus’s Romain Grosjean is optimistic that it won’t be long before he scores his maiden win in Formula One racing.

The Frenchman has had an up-and-down 2013 season so far, but his recent performances in Germany and Hungary - where he finished in third and sixth places respectively - have given him hope of a more successful second half campaign.

“We proved in Germany and Hungary that we can compete right at the front of the grid and I think if we can continue to improve at the same rate we will be looking pretty good for the remaining nine races,” Grosjean said in an interview on Lotus’s official website.

“I’m feeling more and more comfortable in the car every time I drive it which is certainly a good sign looking forwards.

“After our performance in the last few races, I honestly believe my first win is now just around the corner.”

Asked to name his personal highlight of the year so far, Grosjean opted for his around-the-outside pass of Felipe Massa at the Hungarian Grand Prix, a move that subsequently earned him a drive-through penalty for putting all four wheels off the track.

“At the time I thought it may have been the best (pass) of my career so far - but of course with the penalty I suppose it’s not the same,” he explained.

“The podium in Germany would have to be my next choice; not just because it was a great result for the team, but because we were genuinely fighting for the win right to the end which was a pretty good feeling.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Grosjean nominated Monaco, a weekend in which he suffered several accidents, as the low point of his year so far.

“Monaco was not my best weekend, that’s no secret,” he said. “The pace was there, but for one reason or another I just didn’t put everything together when really a strong result was definitely achievable.

“I still owe the mechanics and composites guys a drink for that; hopefully it will be some victory champagne later in the season…”

"Brawn confident that upgrades will keep Mercedes at the front"

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn has expressed confidence that the Brackley-based squad will carry their good form into the second half of the season thanks to a number of upcoming technical developments.

Mercedes entered the mid-season break having scored three wins and four pole positions in the last five races, results that have boosted their world championship aspirations substantially.

“The team has great spirit at the moment,” said Brawn in an interview posted on Mercedes' official site. “I know the things that are coming through on the technical front and our hit rate has been pretty good on new technical innovations - the things that we’ve brought to the track have generally worked.

“We’ve got a few things coming up in the next few races which could give us that extra impetus, that extra momentum, to take us through the second half of the year.”

Brawn believes that the main challenge for Mercedes, and their immediate competitors, in the final nine races of the season is maintaining performance whilst simultaneously working on a car for next year’s revised regulations.

“Balancing those two things out is going to be the tricky thing,” Brawn reasoned. “I don’t think there’s a point where you stop doing anything with the 2013 car and everyone just swings over to the 2014 car.

“There are areas of the 2013 car that we will continue to develop, almost until the end of season because they can follow on to 2014. If we look at suspension systems; we think fundamentally the tyres will be similar next year and therefore developing suspension systems is entirely relevant for next season.

“There are areas of the 2013 car that have no relevance to the 2014 car, so we’ll draw a line under those at some point. It does depend on how well the team is going - if we start to get a sniff of something that might develop, then that will have some influence on where we go.

“I think teams that don’t have an opportunity will just draw a line under their ‘13 car and get on with their ‘14 car. We’re fortunate enough at the moment to be able to do both - we’ve got a strong car at the moment, a strong team, we’re on a run and we don’t want to spoil that.”

One man on a particularly strong run heading into the August break was Lewis Hamilton, who Brawn said is only beginning to show his full potential having taken time to settle into his new team.

“I think when a driver of Lewis’s calibre joins a team, there’s obviously massive expectation”, Brawn explained, “but every driver takes a while to settle in, to understand all the nuances of the team, to understand how to work with the engineers and how to press the right buttons - and I mean in the team, not just on the steering wheel.

“It’s taken (him) a little while but I see some great signs, particularly in the last few races which have been very, very good. It’s another thing that’s picking up momentum and moving in the right direction. We honestly don’t know where the limit is; we’re on a journey here with Lewis and we don’t know where the limits are.”

"Caterham: Our development plan is delivering"

They may have entered F1’s mid-season break at the bottom of the constructors’ standings, but Caterham team principal Cyril Abiteboul says that the progress his squad have made over the last three races is proof that their aggressive development plan is working.

Caterham qualified on the back row of the grid at the season-opener in Australia in March, but a steady stream of upgrades have boosted their form to the point that they’ve now finished ahead of rivals Marussia in three successive events.

“We started the season clearly behind (Marussia), but over the last three races a comfortable gap has appeared between us and them, which shows our rate of development,” explained Abiteboul.

“That’s also helped us, on a couple of occasions, to race a Williams or a Sauber and that shows where we’re setting our targets.

“This progress is positive for the whole team because it shows the aggressive development plan we have for 2013 is delivering.

“So far this performance gain has not turned into a point or an improved championship position as this is not completely in our hands, but each time we bring new parts to the track, not only do we potentially make progress, but we also give ourselves the chance to learn more about us, our strengths and our weaknesses and to give motivation to our staff whether at the factory or at the track.”

Speaking about Caterham’s driver line-up, Abiteboul is full of praise for the way the team’s relatively inexperienced duo of Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde have performed so far this season.

“Giedo has had his challenges, but his last race in Hungary was a good reward for his determination and his positive attitude that the team loves,” Abiteboul said. “He’s also going to be helped by the new tyres which will definitely suit his style better than those used for the first nine races.

“For Charles, after only one year of experience with Marussia, he immediately made a positive contribution to our development strategy this year and that’s a clear sign of his maturity and of his determination.

“It’s possible the new tyres take away one of his strengths over the other drivers as he was very good at tyre management, but therefore he must adapt and develop other skills in terms of pure race pace to cope with what’s to come.”

Away from the track, Caterham began the second half of the 2012 season by moving the base of their operations from Hingham in Norfolk to Leafield in Oxfordshire. This year, Abiteboul says the team’s focus will switch to other areas of development.

“During the second part of the year, we will push to be able to develop more and more accurately in the virtualised environment, the route that our industry is heading towards,” he explained.

“In parallel with the improvements we’re making to the facilities, we must continue to invest in people, raising the experience level and making sure we are future proofed, particularly with new aero and engine regulations just around the corner.”

On the subject of 2014, Abiteboul says that work on the team’s next car is progressing well: “We're already above our initial targets for next year, so much so we're looking at reviewing them for more aggressive ones!

“The car has been in the tunnel for a while now, and we're seeing good numbers, all of which is being achieved while we keep progressing this year, hopefully showing without a doubt that we are on the right path to reduce the gap to the midfield.”