With both cars coming home after the opening day of practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, Guenther Steiner believes it was a good day in Monte Carlo.
For Free Practice 1, Kevin Magnussen brought the VF-17 home in thirteenth, Romain Grosjean set a fastest lap time of 1:15.321s to go fifteenth fastest. Only the McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team of Jenson Button split the two Haas drivers. Heading into Free Practice 2, it didn’t look good for the American-led team but Magnussen was able to find something within the VF-17 to go ninth fastest. Grosjean on the other hand could only manage a time of 1:14.022s to go fourteenth fastest.
With both drivers completing over 75 laps around the Monte Carlo street circuit, the team were able to learn a lot. With this in mind, Team Principal Steiner thinks Haas are in a good position for the rest of the weekend.
“It was a pretty good day,” said Steiner. “If in FP1 and FP2 you bring both cars home without damage, it’s always a good day in Monte Carlo.
“There’s a very tight midfield as always – it’s even a little bit tighter, which is very interesting. We had a good session. We did a lot of laps and learned a lot. Now we’re soon into qualifying.
“It will be tight – there were seven cars in less than three tenths (of a second). I think we’re in a good position. We’ll try to do our best to get ready for Saturday.”
