Guenther Steiner is hoping to put the ‘worst’ weekend for the Haas F1 Team since their arrival in Formula 1 behind them as the teams make the quick turnaround to race at the Red Bull Ring this weekend.
Kevin Magnussen started fifteenth and finished down in seventeenth at the Circuit Paul Ricard last weekend while Romain Grosjean was eliminated in Q1 before retiring from his home Grand Prix to conserve his engine with the Frenchman well outside the points at the time.
Steiner, the team principal of Haas, was extremely downbeat about their performance in France as they struggled throughout the weekend. The team has now only scored points on three occasions in 2019 and sit ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead only of the pointless Williams Racing.
“Unfortunately this race weekend was the worst since we started the team,” said Steiner after the race in France. “We need to try to find a way out of our issues. This is not where we want to be.”
Tyres continue to be the main issue Haas suffer with in 2019, with their VF-19 seemingly inconsistently getting the Pirelli rubber into its ideal operating window, and Steiner admits it will not be clear to whether or not they can get them to work this weekend at the Red Bull Ring.
“There should be something, but with the struggles we have with the tyres this year, I would not jump to the conclusion to say we can take the data we get from France and take it to Austria,” said Steiner. “The Austrian track is a different layout and the tarmac roughness is different.
“I don’t think anymore about the tyres – if they work or not, I always wait for Fridays. Then I get a little bit closer to knowing what they’re doing, but we have no confidence in saying when and where they’ll work on our car.”
Haas enjoyed their best ever result during the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, with Grosjean and Magnussen finishing fourth and fifth, but Steiner admits it will not be easy to replicate the result, especially if there is impeccable reliability amongst the leading three teams.
“When you’ve got a good car and you find the right setup, it’s pretty easy to do,” said Steiner. “There were a few retirements in the race from the big three teams in front of us and we finished as we did.
“Once you’ve done it, it seems to be easy. But to get there, it’s very difficult. I don’t know if we can achieve it this year, but for sure we’ll be trying.”
