Haas F1 team at a loss over tyre temperature trouble in grands prix

The Frenchman finished 14th in the Canadian Grand Prix, one place behind team-mate Esteban Gutierrez, with both drivers admitting it was difficult to get temperature into the tyres throughout the race.

"When the virtual safety car came out, we lost the temperature of the tyres and that is our struggle," Grosjean said.

"On a hot track with high roughness like in Bahrain, we were good as we were working the tyres nicely but on a smooth track, we're struggling.

"We don't know what to do but we know where we need to look so that is a positive.

"We made some good changes this weekend and everything was better.

"Now we just need to get the tyres to work and once we get that, the car is going to be great.

"We're moving forward, it's not shown on results but we're clearly doing the right thing."

Gutierrez added: "I was struggling a lot to get the tyres to work and then at the end of every stint it was difficult to keep the temperature in them.

"Once you start losing that the car starts to slide and it's like driving on ice."

Grosjean admitted it may take time to get on top of the problem, referencing the issues Mercedes had with tyre performance in the early years of its current works programme.

"Look at Mercedes, at how long they struggled," he said.

"In qualifying they were really good and in the race they were nowhere in 2011, 2012, 2013.

"So it took them around three years to understand why they were good in qualifying and not so good in the race.

"We are the opposite and we need to hope for the summer to come first of all and then try to find more tools to get a better understanding of tyres."