Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner reflected on a pointless weekend for the team at the Hockenheimring, and rued the bad start from Esteban Gutierrez that potentially cost the Mexican his first points finish of the year.
Gutierrez dropped towards the rear of the field at the start and then ran the longest first stint of any driver on the Soft compound tyre, with the Mexican finishing eleventh for the fourth time in 2016, while Romain Grosjean finished thirteenth after starting twentieth following a gearbox change penalty.
Steiner believes the pace is there in the car for good results, but the team need to start making the most of their weekends, especially in qualifying, with the team still seeking their first venture into Q3 on a Saturday.
“In general, we had a good race, though Esteban had a bad start,” said Steiner. “We need to look into that, and do better there, because we finished 11th again, one position out of the points.
“We basically started 18th and 20th and not 11th and 20th. Romain went from 20th to 13th. There wasn’t a lot more to do there, and obviously Esteban finished 11th.
“The car showed the pace and we had no mistakes, but when you start in those positions, sometimes that’s the best you can achieve. We know the pace is there.
“We can do it, we just have to pull it all together and get it done. We’ve showed that we can do that, which is ultimately a positive for the team moving forward.”
