Grosjean still building relationship with new race engineer

Romain Grosjean admits he is still working to build a strong relationship between himself and his new race engineer.

During the opening practice session in Montreal on Friday, Grosjean was heard telling his engineer Dominic Haines over the radio that he needed more information regarding traffic.

Haines previously worked as Grosjean's performance engineer, but took on a new role in 2019, as Grosjean's previous race engineer switched over to Kevin Magnussen's side of the garage.

Grosjean stated that it was not the first time he has had issues with traffic this season, but asserts that it is a natural progression of receiving someone new to work with.

"I think so," the Haas driver said when the relationship is still building between himself and Haines. "In Bahrain, we had an issue in qualifying with Lando Norris which wasn't ideal. There are a lot of things to manage when you're an engineer as well as when you're a driver. 

"The communication wasn't quite there in free practice one but it was good in free practice two, so all good. Maybe coffee helped!"

Grosjean plays down Stroll contact

Grosjean was also involved in a minor incident with Lance Stroll in FP2, as the two made slight wheel-to-wheel contact at the final corner.

However Grosjean brushed it off as nothing more than a miscommunication, and the Stewards awarded no penalties for the occurrence. 

"It was a misunderstanding between the two of us, it could have been avoided but it was just a misunderstanding."

Grosjean struggles with a lack of grip

Grosjean's struggled throughout the day with little grip, ending the final Friday practice session in 17th. However, he was encouraged by the pace teammate Kevin Magnussen showed to end FP2 in P5.

"It wasn't ideal, I struggled generally with the grip," Grosjean replied. "We're going to try and understand what's happening, Kevin was very fast in FP2 which is good to see, so I'm sure we'll find something and get there tomorrow.

"It was the rear end mainly, it was an inconsistent balance, it doesn't bring confidence. Hopefully we can find something for tomorrow."

Grosjean added that he didn't run Ferrari's upgraded engine on Friday, but that it will be in the car for Saturday.

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