Third-placed Grosjean thought fifth was maximum

2015 Belgian Grand Prix

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Romain Grosjean said he exceeded Lotus’s pre-race predictions of high they could finish in the Belgian Grand Prix.

“It’s unbelievable to be on the podium today,” Grosjean told reporters at Spa. “I think yesterday’s qualifying was really good. But we never thought about coming back that high on the standing.”

“The very optimistic pre-race predictions was giving us P5, and here we are P3. 31 races, I think, without a podium, first time since 2013, it’s just great to be here. I think I’ll celebrate that with a lot of champagne.”

“I was really satisfied with P4 already,” he added. “My engineer was giving me a lot of push on the radio to get to P3.”

Grosjean took third on the penultimate lap after Sebastian Vettel’s tyre exploded, but he think it might have been possible for him to pass.

“It would have been difficult but not impossible,” said Grosjean. “We’ve kept some really strong performance from the engine for the two last laps. I was getting closer and closer.”

“It was a bit of a scary moment having Sebastian blow out his tyre in front of me. It was not the way you want to get to P3. But sometimes in life things are going your way and that’s the way things were today.”

2015 Belgian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    4 comments on “Third-placed Grosjean thought fifth was maximum”

    1. I’m very happy for him (as annoyed as I am for what happened to Vettel). After 2013 Grosjean and Hulkenberg were the great upcoming talents, and we were expecting them to be in top seats soon (and/or Lotus to make the final step forward).

      Then 2014 came and it ruined it for both. On that regard is a bit of a shame that Raikkonen and Button are still around. We need space in the top for the young talent. Nevermind McHonda is not the top and it will be years before it comes close.

    2. Very good race. Since promoted to Raikkonen’s spot (before Kimi left the team for good at Abu Dhabi 13) he has been driving very well but was lacking a proper car.

      This team is very good on maximizing they resources and deserves this fully.

      With Ricciardo to use option tyres on the last stint, it wouldn’t be easy, but sometimes things happen for a reason.

    3. I thought podium was possible if starting from fourth. Time diff to Bottas in qualifying was only 0.024s. It was clear that E23 has the speed, but starting from 9th!? However, after getting past some cars that girl was getting angrier and angrier when spurred. I started to hope and voila!
      Thx guys, you made my day. To leave horses and bulls behind is a great achievement! Keep up the good work!

    4. I think yesterday’s qualifying was really good. But we never thought about coming back that high on the standing.

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