Although Barcelona is traditionally the venue for the F1 teams to bring their first big upgrades of the season, Haas will wait a “little bit longer”.
That’s according to team boss Guenther Steiner.
With all-new cars in play this season, Haas have been one of the early surprises with the team finishing fifth at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
But with only one car doing all the scoring, Mick Schumacher yet to get off the mark, and both drivers crashing at the Miami Grand Prix, Haas’ results are not on a par with the car’s pace.
As such, the team is down in eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship with 15 points, one behind AlphaTauri and nine ahead of Aston Martin.
Barcelona week!
#HaasF1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/mEkn5mlhNy
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) May 16, 2022
Both of Haas’ nearest rivals are set to bring upgrades to the Barcelona circuit for round six of the championship, but Steiner says Haas will not be following suit.
He explained why.
“As you say, normally Spain is the obvious place to bring upgrades and I think quite a few teams are planning them,” said the Italian. “I don’t know how much difference they will make on each car and what they will bring.
“We have decided to wait a little bit longer with upgrades as I still think we have performance in the car without them, which we have to get on the track. Sometimes we achieve it, sometimes we don’t.
“We have a good upgrade package coming in about four or five races, so I’m confident about that. What the other ones are bringing, as of right now I don’t know but I will know a lot more next Monday.”
Steiner was annoyed with his drivers after the Miami Grand Prix as Schumacher collided with Sebastian Vettel, while Kevin Magnussen had a late-race incident with Lance Stroll.
The drivers were on course for top-10 finishes at the time of their accidents.
“It was quite disappointing in both qualifying and the race but we need to keep positive,” Steiner said, having calmed down since.
“The positives are the car is good. We just need to get it at the right set-up, get the tires to work properly and the car is right there.
“As you could see during the race in Miami, we made up positions until the Safety Car came out and then we fell back.
“That’s what you have to focus on, staying confident we have a good machine and that we will make the points we want to make.”
