Romain Grosjean will change defensive style if there is rule "clarification"

British Grand Prix

Grosjean will change defensive style if there is rule "clarification"

French driver was called into the stewards following separate incidents at Silverstone

Ewan Gale

Sunday 2 August 2020 19:19 Updated: 20:24

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Romain Grosjean has vowed to take on board criticism of his defensive moves during the British Grand Prix if there is "clarification" on the rules.

The Haas driver was shown a black-and-white flag - for unsportsmanlike driving - for a late jink into the braking zone for Stowe whilst defending from McLaren's Carlos Sainz, before seemingly pulling off a similar move with Renault driver Daniel Riccardo later in the race.

After receiving a warning from the stewards for the second incident, Grosjean was forced into further defending, this time with words with regards to his actions.

"In both cases, I moved a little bit late, but I always left a car width," said the Frenchman.

"They [the stewards] wanted to clarify the fact that we cannot move that late, which I agree with, but there were no real rules beforehand and Max [Verstappen] used it a lot during his racing so I thought 'Why not? Why not take advantage of that'.

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"It is not every day we are running sixth or seventh in the race and I did everything I could to defend.

"Looking at them, I got a bit caught by my mirror which was twisted down at the beginning of the race so I couldn't really see much in them. I agree I moved a little bit late but I also left more than a car width. "

Grosjean, who eventually finished 16th, revealed he had spoken to Ricciardo about the incident, with no hard feelings on either side, although he feels to avoid similar incidents in the future there needs to be a further explanation of the rules.

"I spoke with Daniel and he was like it was a bit marginal, not too bad," added Grosjean.

"I think Sainz was complaining a lot on the radio from what I heard but again, he could pass. There was a car width and I've got to do my race.

"If there is a clarification that we can't move that late then I will take that into account.

"To that point, I used the limit, I agree, but I was trying to defend as hard as I could."

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