Grosjean: I love Budapest and I love the Hungaroring

Romain Grosjean gives his thoughts on a track where he’s enjoyed good results in the past as well as looking forward to a little rest afterwards.

What are your thoughts on Budapest?

I love Budapest and I love the Hungaroring. It’s a place that I really look forward to visiting every year. It is usually sunny and hot and is just before the summer break so you give all the energy you have before you go on holiday. It is an exciting Grand Prix every year.

What is it about the Hungaroring that you particularly like?

It’s a great track and one that’s suited us in the past. It was great to be on the podium there in 2012. I can remember feeling frustrated that year as we did have a chance to be fighting for the win, but that didn’t work out because of traffic. I like the circuit with its style of up and downs and twisty corners. I like the feeling you get when driving on the track and the grip you get from it. I’ve been very quick in qualifying every time there. I did one of my best overtakes in my career in Formula 1 last year and I got penalised for a few small centimetres which was tough at the time…Nevertheless, it is hard to overtake at the Hungaroring making qualifying very, very important, as is the race strategy.

What’s the key to a good result in Budapest?

Qualifying. It’s a tight and twisty track so you do need a good qualifying result. We showed in 2012 that being on the front row certainly helps and last year’s P3 wasn’t too bad either.

What other memories do you have of the track?

I scored my first GP2 Series pole position there in 2008. In 2011 I won and finished third, which was a pretty good weekend. Driving-wise, it’s not the most physically challenging in terms of high speed corners, but the heat you experience in the cockpit can be quite an issue. It can also be a difficult circuit early in the weekend as the track is not used very much, meaning it’s quite slippery when you first go out.

How was your German Grand Prix weekend?

Frustrating as we didn’t finish the race and we also lost some pace on the car with the move away from the interlinked suspension system. In terms of my driving, I was absolutely giving all I could. I had a great start in the race, but then we struggled with tyre temperature after the safety car. Our race pace was a lot better than our qualifying pace and I know the team will make progress to reclaim some of the speed we’ve lost.

With pace so hard to come by for the team in 2014, what’s the approach to a race weekend?

You just have to maximise everything. We’re fully focused on making the very best we can in every lap of each session. Of course, the results are very different from those we enjoyed over the last two seasons but our approach is the same. We are still learning a lot about the E22 and there’s still pace to come so we just keep pushing.

After Budapest there’s the summer break – are you looking forward to that?

Of course, as a racer you always want to be out on track, but as there are no Grands Prix it would be good to get a little rest and particularly to spend some time with my family. Naturally, I’ll continue with my training as that’s something you do all through the year, but it’s important to return refreshed from the summer break as there’s plenty of travelling for the final eight races of the year.