“Haas fight is with Williams” – Steiner

The best scenario for Haas this season is to be able to fight Williams, admits team boss Günther Steiner.

Haas had a tough 2020 with an underdeveloped car and uncompetitive powerplant battling Alfa Romeo and Williams for most of the year. After switching to a driver line-up made up of newbies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, this year is seen as a transitional period where no work is done on the car after the second lap, and Steiner believes the evidence is for the first race in Bahrain there may be only one team within reach.

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“I would say if we can get the fight to Williams, that’s what we can do,” Steiner said. “I am very realistic. We don’t try to do more than that. I think the greatest amount we can get out of the car to prepare or better prepare our drivers is just to make them experience, that’s what we want to do so that when we have a better car, they are ready. This is exactly our plan for this year.

“I think we’re fighting Williams and to do a good job we want to do that too. We have to be realistic about what we’re fighting and we have the two new people – the fight is not to damage the car and get them to drive as much as possible. “

While the opening lap was disappointing with Mazepin spinning several times and falling out on the first lap, Steiner was more encouraged by what he saw from Schumacher, who had a spin to his name early on but otherwise garnered important miles.

“I’m very happy with the way he did it,” he added. “He improved on tires in every stint, very good, very calm, very good communication with his team. Except for one twist, nothing else went wrong. The advice I gave him: keep it up and we’ll be there pretty soon to be at a good level. “