Haas F1 drivers Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez are frustrated to miss out on improving their lap times in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix due to the new elimination format.
Both racers were on course to move up the order with better laps, but were eliminated from qualifying before they were able to complete them because they had already dropped out.
Gutierrez was the third driver to be eliminated in Q1 and will start 20th, lining up alongside Grosjean on the 10th row of the grid for Haas F1’s first ever race.
"I was on a good lap and then suddenly I’m out," Grosjean said. "I don’t even get a chance to go to the end of the lap.
"That’s annoying because the car was good, our baseline is good, and in terms of performance, we were clearly able to go through.
"We just missed a bit of speed on the turnaround in the garage, so we were massively out of position. This is one of those races where it’s tricky and you need to finish.
"That’s our first call for tomorrow though. That’s what Gene (Haas) wants. From there, everything is possible. It’s a long race and we have new rules with the radio ban, so we just have to try to use the experience."
Gutierrez added: "It was a little frustrating not to see the lap time we achieved reflected in the results. However, we know the potential is there.
"Overall, I think we’ve had a very tricky weekend, but with more time we’ll become more efficient as a team. The good thing is we know the lap time was good enough to be further up the grid."
