Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez finish just outside the points
For the final race of the year, Haas was unable to repeat its early-season performance of finishing in the points. The two team-mates finished one behind the other, in eleventh (Grosjean) and twelfth position (Gutiérrez).
Haas will remain one of the pleasant surprises of the 2016 season, with points scored from the very first race in Australia. And not missing out on points in the last race will not tarnish the celebrations of the American team.
Even though Romain Grosjean has been very critical in recent weeks regarding the behavior of his car, the Frenchman gave a positive assessment of his season: « We had a magnificent season and surprised everyone, including ourselves, with highs and lows. We didn’t score points today, but if you take out the top six cars from Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari, we are the third team behind them, which isn’t so bad. »
Such a great season with these boys. They make it all possible. So much looking fwd to 2017#r8g #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/5gxGpNGfaY
— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) November 27, 2016
For the driver who will still be part of Gene Haas’s team, the main area of improvement concerns tire management, which once again proved challenging in Abu Dhabi: « There are many things we can improve over the winter, mainly the tires. Today, there were clearly some laps where our pace was incredible, and the car behaved really well when the tires were working. But a few laps later, it didn’t work anymore. It’s clear we need to make progress. All the other teams are close to their limits, while we clearly have much more to improve for next season. »
For his part, Esteban Gutierrez was unable to score a single point throughout the 21 races of the season. His twelfth place finish in Abu Dhabi is a small consolation at the end of this campaign.
While the Mexican was not retained by the team, all that remains is for him to thank his mechanics and engineers.
I am very happy to have worked with everyone present here on the team. I really did my best to deliver a great performance. I hope to leave a good memory. I am very grateful to have worked with Gene Haas and Günther Steiner. I was proud to be part of this team, which started from not much. A big thank you to my mechanics and engineers. I wish the whole team the best for the future.
Before hoping to find a new employer next season, probably with Sauber…
