Grosjean: The car is destroyed

“The car is destroyed, I’m very, very sorry. I think it was the bump. I missed the button,” Grosjean reported over the team radio, explaining why he failed to de-activate the DRS on his Haas through the ultra-fast Abbey Curve which caused the car to snap out of control at speed.

Taking the positives from his shortened day Grosjean said afterwards, "The car was fast this morning, so I think we should be alright. Hopefully, we can build up nicely tomorrow, and then do some fine tuning for qualifying when the track temperature gets really high."

"That’s going to be the biggest challenge for us, as we haven’t run those high track temperatures. Kevin was doing some good runs. I’ve just been looking at what he was doing out there, and trying to take that on-board for ourselves for our side of the garage."

The Frenchman has been accident-prone this season, but seemed to have turned things around in Austria a week ago, but this latest in a list self-inflicted career damaging incidents are costing the American team dear and raising questions about Grosjean's future.

In the sister car Kevin Magnussen was up to his shenanigans on track, tangling unnecessarily with McLaren's Fernando Alonso which triggered a trip to the FIA race stewards after the session.

Team chief Guenther Steiner took it all on the chin, "It's just a normal day at the office. One car we need to change the chassis and the other car the driver is with the stewards!"

"Romain switched off his DRS a little bit too late on his second fast lap and he lost grip in the rear, because he lost downforce, basically, and he spun out and hit the wall."

"We had to change the chassis because there is some damage, and it’s easier to change the chassis than it is to try and fix it," added Steiner.