Guenther Steiner believes his Haas F1 Team is the worst team for getting Pirelli’s 2019 tyres into their optimal temperature window, with the team having struggled significantly in three of the first four Grand Prix of the season.
Whereas Haas’ qualifying performance has been strong – both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean have made it into the top ten shootout in three of the first four races – the race pace has not been at the same level, with Magnussen’s sixth place finish in the Australian Grand Prix in March the only points result of the season to date.
The last race weekend in Azerbaijan saw the team drop off the pace even more, with Grosjean being eliminated in Q1 and Magnussen in Q2, with the third non-scoring weekend relegating them to eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of only Scuderia Toro Rosso and Williams Racing.
Steiner, the team principal of Haas, revealed that the team had changed its ambitions for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix knowing about the issues they are having with the tyres, but it is up to them to work out the reasons for the problems they are facing so to come back strongly to the front of the midfield pack.
“It’s still never good when you get a disappointment,” Steiner is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “It is quite disappointing – or very disappointing. Other people can get it to work so we need to get it to work.
“There’s no point to say ‘it’s not working, oh’. Nine teams get it to work. Who better, who worse. But we are absolutely the worst one to get it to work. I’m very conscious about that one.
“It’s very serious, because it’s the point, you go slower, that’s what it is. We know the cause now, we just need to find out how to fix it. We can talk about half an hour about it, we know what it is, we just need to fix it.”
Haas did show good pace during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the venue for the next race in Spain, but the recent troubles with the tyres has left Steiner unsure to whether they can have a positive race this weekend.
“My confidence level in the moment is not very high, obviously,” admitted Steiner. “As you can imagine.”
