Guenther Steiner feels the Haas F1 Team finally showed a good turn of pace at the Circuit Paul Ricard, with Kevin Magnussen taking his fourth top-ten finish of the season with a strong sixth place finish.
The Dane held off Valtteri Bottas in the closing laps, albeit with the Finn hobbled with a damaged car following opening lap contact with Sebastian Vettel, but he was in the right place at the right time when Carlos Sainz Jr. suffered an MGU-K failure in the final laps to move ahead of the Spaniard.
Team-mate Romain Grosjean continues to seek his first point of the year but finished a seasons-best eleventh on Sunday, with Steiner feeling the bad luck continues to follow the Frenchman around as he trails Magnussen by twenty-seven points after the first eight races.
In France, Grosjean was handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with countryman Esteban Ocon on the run down to the first corner on the opening lap, although he escaped a further penalty for gaining an advantage cutting the track just three corners later.
Steiner, the team principal of the American outfit, hopes that the pace showed during the weekend in France can continue going forward as they bid to improve on the eighth place Constructors’ Championship they have achieved in their first two seasons in Formula 1.
“To finish sixth, we’re very happy about it,” said Steiner. “We were a little bit lucky that Carlos (Sainz) had an issue there at the end, and a little bit unlucky with Romain because he got a penalty.
“Now, I hope we can keep this going as we finally have the car where it should be.”
