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Connor McDonagh
Guenther Steiner says Haas’ performances in the upcoming races will determine whether its latest upgrade package has been a success or not.
The American squad introduced a significant upgrade package for the race in Montreal, which included a new front nose, floor and bargeboards. Haas was unable to capitalise on its strong practice pace and came away from Canada with zero points.
When asked about how the upgraded fared in Montreal, Steiner explained that Romain Grosjean was happy with the upgrade, while Kevin Magnussen wants to assess how the car fares in the upcoming rounds in France, Austria and Britain before deciding.
“Romain is very happy, I think Kevin says he wants to see a little bit more on a more normal track, not on one of the special tracks like here,” Steiner said. “But Romain said he was positive about it. The data shows it does what it should be doing if you compare the data and this year with the data we get from the aero department we were never misled so why should we doubt that one. In general, it’s positive, but the negative we haven’t got any points again.”
When asked what positives Haas could take from the scoreless race, he said: “We can take away the car is quick but today we didn’t have a chance to get it out. I think Kevin said on his ultra-softs he was overheating them a little bit and while Romain was very good on them and on the super-softs Kevin was very happy and Romain was not so happy.
“I think when you start in these positions you’re just put in positions with all the blue flags, the tyre cools down and all that stuff. You just go down in a downward spiral where it’s difficult to come back up so that’s where we ended up in. I think in the end when the race started we were about 16th and 17th, something like this. What I take away is the car is still quick.”
Steiner believes it’s still too early to judge whether the upgrade suits one driver or the other and the next races will give a clearer picture.
“I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion,” Steiner replied when asked if the upgrade suited Grosjean more than Magnussen. “I want to see the car more on a normal track, when I mean normal, it’s more like the next three tracks which are coming to get a little more data to say who likes it better, who likes it not because I think Kevin is normally pretty good in adapting to whatever he does. I am not jumping to a conclusion.”