Guenther Steiner reckoned it was not a bad day for the Uralkali Haas F1 Team on Friday despite seeing Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin towards the back of the field in both practice sessions at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Haas are fielding an all-new line-up for the 2021 Formula 1 season, with Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen having been replaced by 2021 FIA Formula 2 champion Schumacher, and one of his rivals for the title last year, Mazepin.
Schumacher had the better of the first day in Bahrain, finishing nineteenth in the first session and eighteenth in the evening, while Mazepin ended both at the back of the pack. Both drivers, however, were able to find a good chunk of time between the sessions which will give both some much-needed confidence heading into the rest of the weekend.
Steiner, the Team Principal at Haas, says both drivers gave good feedback on their first day of practice and even through the balance of the car was far from ideal, they are hopeful that the team can have a solid weekend in the desert.
“Even if the results don’t show it – not a bad day for us,” said Steiner. “I was pretty happy with FP1. We got all our laps in and there were no mistakes made, it was solid throughout.
“The feedback from the drivers was good and the car had a decent balance. In FP2 we were then struggling to find the balance with both of the guys, but that’s part of the learning curve.”
