Guenther Steiner admits it is not easy to manage two drivers vying to beat one-another on track, but there are ground rules in place to ensure both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean behave when fighting their team-mate.
The two Haas F1 Team drivers came close to colliding during the Bahrain Grand Prix after a misunderstanding and have often been in close proximity on track this season, but for team principal Steiner, despite it being far from easy to manage, it is a nice thing to have to do from the pit wall.
“It’s not an easy thing to manage, but it’s a nice thing to manage,” said Steiner. “Sometimes you need to manage emotions, but I think we have good ground rules in place between the two drivers.
“They’re pushing each other in a different place and it’s more obvious. It seems like we could always have two cars in the points if everything goes right, and that’s really the only thing that has changed.
“Before, there were more ups and downs and we weren’t always in contention to finish in the top-10, but having a solid car in the VF-18 allows us to always compete for points.”
Steiner is confident Haas can show themselves to be competitive again this weekend in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the team principal hoping they can finally be the best of the rest behind the leading three teams, something that has eluded them so far this season.
“We showed in the first three races that we can be competitive at the high end of the midfield, and we’re very confident we can be there in Baku, as well,” said Steiner. “The Big Three, as we call them, are in their own league, but there is a group of teams behind them who are very strong, us included. It’s a very interesting championship.
“We haven’t been best of the rest yet due to circumstances, some of which were self-inflicted, like Australia, but I’m sure that moment will come.”
