Grosjean: I think they were drinking rosé wine

Grosjean banged wheels with the Force India of Esteban Ocon shortly after the start of the race, for which the Haas driver was penalised.

On the eve of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Grosjean explained what happened by showing onboard footage to reporters, "That's what you get a five-second penalty for. Did I move my steering wheel? Did I turn to the left? Did I do anything? It's absolute nonsense."

"I think they [the stewards] were drinking rosé wine. I couldn't know he was there," an angry Grosjean declared.

He also revealed that he apologised to Ocon, "He didn't reply to my message. I flew in this morning here with him, an hour and a half on the plane, and he didn't say anything. It's a French GP and everybody wants to do well but, as I say, I think my penalty is nonsense."

Haas have produced a handy car this year, perhaps even the Best of the Rest behind the top three teams, but the Frenchman has failed to score points while his teammate Kevin Magnussen is delivering on Sundays and is tenth in the standings with 27 points.

Grosjean acknowledged, "It's obviously been a long stretch. Looking at the performance of the car, it's painful. But it will come."

He will hope that time is at this weekend's Austrian GP, but the 32-year-old is also adamant that he has faced tougher periods in his career - such as a season in which he was handed a one-race ban.

The 32-year-old is no stranger to controversy, in 2012 he was labelled a first lap nutcase by Mark Webber after he caused a massive first turn pile-up at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.

Granted Grosjean has matured, but this season his waywardness has returned and an element of desperation seems to prevail when the going gets tough.

But he believes that this current 'unlucky' spell does not compare to his early days with Lotus, "It was harder in 2012. I was being criticised by other drivers badly, drivers that I respect and I was creating big safety problems.

"It's not easy right now and obviously we want more for the team but if you look at all the races, some I could have done much better but some it's just circumstances. I will drive as I have always been driving," he added.