Guenther Steiner believed that the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team got the most out of their VF-23 during the Belgian Grand Prix, but it was nowhere near enough to bring home a top ten finish.
Kevin Magnussen ended the race at Spa-Francorchamps down in fifteenth position, while Nico Hülkenberg could not better eighteenth despite having seen changes made to his car outside of parc ferme ahead of the race.
Once again this season, Haas were hindered by excessive tyre degradation, with both drivers showing good speed at the beginning of their stints before seeing their pace drop significantly as they began to struggle with their Pirelli tyres.
Steiner, the Team Principal of Haas, admitted that the longer the stint went on at Spa-Francorchamps, the harder it was for both Magnussen and Hülkenberg to turn good lap times, and ultimately it meant the team were unable to score their first Sunday points since the Miami Grand Prix in May.
“The team got the best out of what was possible from our car, and both fought hard,” said Steiner. “In the end, we came short on our issue of tyre life, so we fell back in the middle of the race.
“We couldn’t fight with the others and if we go into overtime with our tyres, we just get slower, and that’s what happened again. We know our deficit, we’re working on it and hopefully we can resolve it fast but all in all, the team did a good job.
“For Nico to change his car around, it was all executed very well.”
Steiner hopes the team can reset across the summer break and come back stronger as they bid to return to the top ten and improve on their eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Now we go on summer break, and hopefully come back stronger,” he added.
