Grosjean: Haas as fast as McLaren in Austria

Grosjean finished in seventh place, just behind McLaren's Jenson Button, whose result helped McLaren move four points clear in its battle with Haas for seventh place in the constructors' championship.

The Frenchman, however, was not concerned about coming up short in the fight with Button: "“They opened a few points on us today, but we had pretty much the same pace.

"I think if I had been in front I could have opened up the gap a little bit. But in the end it was great.

"They were conditions that were not ours, it was cold and grey, so normally we're not so good, but we managed to get everything to work.”

Aggressive strategy

The race marked Grosjean's fourth top-10 finish of the year after he missed the points in Spain, Monaco, Canada and Baku.

And the Red Bull Ring result was achieved despite a five-second penalty for speeding in the pits, which did not affect Grosjean's position as his immediate pursuer Sergio Perez went off on the final lap.

“It was a very good race for me and the team,” said Grosjean.

“There have been a few races where we were unlucky and we had problems, we couldn't make it. But today everything worked well. We made a very aggressive strategy, staying out for 26 or 27 laps on supersofts, but that worked.

“We pitted for softs and then we knew we were going to the end. I didn't know until the last few laps that I had a five-second penalty, so I was asked in the last few laps to open the gap, and then Perez spun, so that made my life easier.

“Just not fast enough to get close to Button, and when you follow another car you lose quite a lot of downforce. That was a bit tricky.

"Yesterday [after] quali I was a bit disappointed with what happened, but I knew the car was good, and actually said to my guys 'today it's P7'. So I'm pretty pleased with that."