Romain Grosjean has thanked Lotus mechanics for a quick gearbox change in between Austin’s final practice and qualifying sessions. Although the swap does mean the Frenchman now carries a five-place grid penalty, he will still start ninth on Sunday.
“I will start P9, but that’s racing,” he said. “The guys did an awesome job to change the gearbox between FP3 and qualifying – which was a really tight turnaround – but we’re still in the top ten, even with the penalty, so that’s a good result.
“Apart from the gearbox problem, it’s all gone very well today. We’ve understood a difficult and evolving circuit and found a good setup. I’m happy to be where I am and at least I will be on the good side of the track for the start tomorrow.”
Team-mate Kimi Räikkönen now inherits Grosjean’s fourth place starting position at the new Circuit of the Americas.
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:35.657 | 20 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:35.766 | 20 |
| 3. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:36.174 | 20 |
| 4. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 01:36.587 | 28 |
| 5. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 01:36.708 | 26 |
| 6. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:36.794 | 22 |
| 7. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:36.937 | 24 |
| 8. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 01:37.141 | 20 |
| 9. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:37.300 | 24 |
| 10. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 01:37.842 | 26 |
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| Romain Grosjean | |||
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| More Romain Grosjean photos | |||
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