The Frenchman endured another frustrating time in free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday, after claiming on the Haas team radio that his car felt like a 'disaster'.

Following an extended debrief after the sessions, Grosjean and his team suspect that recent issues with the handling have been triggered by a set-up direction it embarked on from China.

That is why Grosjean's car will be converted overnight to the type of set-up he had in Bahrain for the second race of the season.

"It is just a general philosophy that we have taken since China," said Grosjean, when asked by Motorsport.com how he was going to sort out the problems.

"We thought it was very positive but it doesn't work as we would like. On the paper it could be something very good, but it looks like on track it doesn't work as well as we would like."

Front-limited

The set-up changes made for China were prompted by a combination of the track being front-limited, so requiring a different approach, and the need to cure some issues that had come to light in Bahrain.

Grosjean added: "China is a very different track, very much front limited, and we struggled getting the heat in the tyres, then getting the tyres too hot and not getting the right tyre pressures.

"So I think all the set-up changes we made in China were hidden by the fact that we struggled with the tyres working, and that is why it was a bit tricky. So that is why we decided to keep the set-up but I think in hindsight we should have reverted before Russia.

"I thought after Bahrain that we could do something on the car and change it in a way that would suit me better, because in the race we had clear points when I wasn't so happy with the car.

"But we tried and again China was very dominated by tyres. In Russia we didn't really understand very well what happened.

"If I look back we could have done things a bit different but again we are struggling a bit with the tyres. And here we are at a track we know, with very high track temperature, so at least we know things are working properly but the car doesn't feel right. Hopefully tomorrow is a much better day."