Haas F1 Team, which is fielding the first American-owned Formula One cars in 30 years, opened the season by exceeding all expectations. Romain Grosjean scored points in the first two events, which raised eyebrows throughout the F1 world.
But in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, the team suffered through a reality check.
Grosjean made contact with another car on the first lap, which caused damage to his wing and required a return to the pits for repairs. He finished 19th.
Teammate Esteban Gutierrez completed his first full race after troubles to start the year, but it was still only a 14th-place finish.
"It was a horrific race," Grosjean said. "The start was terrible when (Marcus) Ericsson turned into me and got my front wing."
Team principal Gunther Steiner called it a "difficult race for us" but said it was a positive that both cars finished. Gutierrez said it was "a big step" to complete the race.
Said Grosjean: "Somehow, it’s positive that we had such a difficult race, because we can analyze what we did wrong, what we did right and what we could have done differently. From there, we can come back stronger."
Nico Rosberg won the race by nearly 38 seconds — his third straight win to open the season and sixth straight overall.
