Grosjean wins F1's first driver of the day

Romain Grosjean has been named F1's first driver of the day after finishing sixth at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.

French Formula One driver Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean has been named F1's first driver of the day following the Australian Grand Prix. (AAP)

Frenchman Romain Grosjean has won Formula One's first driver of the day award after finishing sixth for the new US-owned Haas team in Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The official formula1.com website announced the result on Monday after fans were invited to vote online after the race.

It did not say how many votes were cast for each driver but noted "in the interests of fairness multiple votes identified as originating from the same source were not counted."

Formula One introduced the driver of the day award, the equivalent to soccer's man of the match, this year with the aim of increasing fan engagement in the sport.

Formula One media and other insiders had expressed fears that voting would reflect drivers' popularity on social media more than race-day performances.

Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton, who finished second behind team mate Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes one-two at Albert Park after starting on pole position, has over 3.2 million followers on Twitter.

Grosjean has 549,000 while Manor's Indonesian rookie Rio Haryanto, the first Formula One driver from the nation of 250 million people, has acquired 423,000 in a matter of months. Haryanto failed to finish on Sunday.

"This is a win for us, this is a win," an emotional Grosjean had said on the team radio on Sunday after taking the chequered flag at the end of the team's debut race.

"It feels like standing on the top step of the podium for us."


Share
2 min read

Published

Source: AAP

Tags

Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world