Grosjean scoffs at 'Ferrari B' critics

Romain Grosjean has hit out at critics of Haas' partnership with Ferrari, insisting that the American team are playing by Formula 1's rules. Haas' impressive pace in pre-season and in Australia caught the attention of their midfield rivals, who have accused them of cloning the Scuderia's 2017 challenger.

McLaren star Fernando Alonso labelled the Haas a "Ferrari replica" after Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen locked out the third row at Albert Park thanks to Valtteri Bottas' crash and a grid penalty for Daniel Ricciardo.

The race ended in heartbreak for Haas as both Grosjean and Magnussen retired due to faulty wheelnuts within three laps of each other, having previously ran fourth and fifth.

More accusations were cast after the race, despite the double DNF, but Grosjean says the claims do down the good work done by Haas to improve for the 2018 season.

"It's the same thing every time we are fast and it was the same thing last year," Grosjean said.

"We were Ferrari B. We are using the same engine, same gearbox, same suspension, everyone knows the suspension is providing a lot of the flow, so of course there's going to be similarities.

"But we are building our own car. It's not nice for the people that work hard and produce the Haas F1 VF-18."

Numerous teams have entered F1 in recent years, only to fall by the wayside as mounting costs lead to them running into financial issues.

Haas look like they could be in F1 for the long-term, however, thanks to their partnership with Ferrari - a fact Grosjean believes shows a new way forward for F1.

"I think the way we operate the team and the way we've created a partnership with Ferrari, it's good for F1," he added.

"It shows that you can come and make things look pretty good in a short amount of time.

"Of course, if we had to do everything from zero we wouldn't be where we are today.

"We've got the parts from Ferrari which is very important for us, so I think it's a good thing for F1 to show that if you want to come to F1, there's a way to do it that you can be successful early on."