I'm not liked 'because I'm French' - Grosjean

Romain Grosjean reckons that he gets more of a tough time in the media, particularly in the British press, than other drivers "maybe because he is French", but did recognise that his own performance needs to improve after a torrid start to the 2018 F1 campaign.

Along with Sergey Sirotkin of Williams, he is one of two drivers who has not picked up any point so far, and has been vastly outperformed by Haas team-mate, Kevin Magnussen, who has the same vehicle.

When quizzed by motorsport-magazin.com about whether he is beginning to question himself, Grosjean insisted he is not infallible to mistakes like any other driver, but defended some of his recent on-track actions.

“What should I tell you? I’ve made a mistake, mistakes happen to everyone," he told the German publication.

"We are not robots. I’m sure if you write an article, you sometimes make mistakes, typos and then people check you for them. The thing is, if you do it before, nobody will see it because you corrected it. When I brake and I turn behind the safety car, because the rear wheels are blocking because the damn tires are cold and hard like S ****** … everyone says something like that quickly.”

“I told my boys I probably would do it again, because I did not do anything crazy. It was only a lot of circumstances that came together. If you are behind the safety car, the temperature breaks down, there were heavy tail winds, I caught the switch that has completely adjusted the brake balance backwards. Then I braked, the wheels blocked and flew directly into the wall.”

“I pushed the whole damned race, took a lot of risks and there were no problems. And then behind the safety car, when you least expect it, you crash … that’s a mistake nobody wants to do, from go-karts to Formula 1. But we’re all just human, and whether you’re in the first lap, crash behind the safety car or in the last lap. That’s all the same in the end.”

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Grosjean thinks that he is beginning to build a reputation for being troublesome during races, but he reckons this is due to a media bias against him, particularly in the United Kingdom.

"know that the British press does not like me very much," he continued.

"Maybe because I’m French. But I am very honest with the media and always tell the truth. I do not talk sh*t like others would. Maybe that’s not good, but that’s me. And I prefer to be content and proud of the personality I am, instead of saying that I drove the car that everyone else had parked in the first lap to seventh place in Baku.”