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Romain Grosjean has firmly set his sights of stepping into the Ferrari for 2018 after stating that he believes he is ready for the call-up. Grosjean currently races for Haas, a team that has close ties with the Maranello outfit.
Grosjean moved to Haas in a bid to place himself in contention for the Ferrari seat, as was even reported to be learning Italian after the deal was done. With neither Sebastian Vettel or Kimi Raikkonen contracted to Ferrari for next season, Grosjean thinks he is the right man to step in.
When asked by Sky F1 if he is the favourite for the seat, Grosjean replied: "Good question, I don't know. Life is full of surprises. If you ask Valtteri what he was doing last December, I'm sure he was thinking 'I'm going to go again with Williams' and the next thing you know he's in a world championship car. It's a phone call and the best thing you can do is do the best thing on track.
"It's early days and we are not even in July. Who knows what the F1 grid is going to be like next year. Valtteri is waiting on Mercedes, and there is the Kimi situation, what is he going to do? Everyone has thought he is going to be out of Formula 1 since 2010 and here we are in 2017, he's 37 and still here doing a decent job. If there is an opportunity, a seat with them then I believe I am in a good position but it doesn't necessarily mean anything."
Winning is the only thing that matters
Haas debuted in Formula 1last season and has taken 44 points since Australia 2016. Despite the impressive start from a new manufacturer, Grosjean feels frustrated that he is not fighting at the front of the field.
"I'm frustrated sometimes because I love winning and that's what matters to me in Formula 1," he said. "You come from other categories where you've won everything and then you come to F1 and you don't get the chance to win a race because it's like you are starting a 100m race 10 seconds behind the others.
"But it's great to see how we can start from zero as a new team and we can build and surprise a lot of people. Everyone was saying 'Haas are coming to F1, they've got four years full-time in the wind tunnel, they're going to be great' and then last year we struggled a little bit.
"That's normal for F1. The whole process was to prepare for 2017 and we're already looking at 2018 and improving every year. The year started well. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have the front six places already locked so the race kind of starts from P7 onwards. Williams and Force India have been very fast recently so you have maybe one spot in the top 10 to try and score points so it's quite tricky."
Fergal Walsh
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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ianf1
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I agree 2013 was his best season, but since then his best finish was a 3rd place at Belgium in 2015. He is also involved in more than his fair share of racing incidents, whether they are directly his fault or not. I therefore think there are a number of other drivers who would be higher up on ... [Read more]