Günther Steiner: “Now, we are in the shit!”
The Haas team experienced its worst weekend in four years of Formula 1 presence according to its Sporting Director, Günther Steiner. But what frustrates him the most is the lack of understanding related to this performance deficit.
In front of his audience, Romain Grosjean did not expect to perform miracles, but he at least wanted to finish in the points. Instead, the Frenchman retired a few laps before the end of the race to give himself better chances for the next Grand Prix in Austria by changing some elements on his car. But on the other side of the garage, everyone was also downcast in the Magnussen camp. The Dane finished in 17th position.
The two Haas drivers were completely off the pace during the race, much to the despair of Günther Steiner, the team’s sporting director: « I think this was our worst weekend in four years. We are still struggling a lot during the race. What is strange to me is that we had a car good enough to qualify in seventh and eighth places in the first race, and then all of a sudden, we’re on the second-to-last row. Don’t ask me where it comes from, I don’t know. »
He expects his team to react and find solutions very quickly: « We need to know, it’s very disappointing to end up in this situation, but also not to understand it, that’s the worst of all. »
He continues: « It’s not depressing. I’m not depressed, I’m realistic. I’m starting to… anger is not the right word. For me, it’s a challenge, but it’s not a positive challenge, yet we have to overcome it. If you’re depressed, you give up. We never give up, you never give up in motor racing, the day you give up is the day you’re nowhere. You have to let go of the anger and keep working. That’s what I told the guys: You have to work much more now than you did before because now we’re in trouble! »
Difficult afternoon on track for the team 🇫🇷
Confirmation of how we finished the #FrenchGP👇 pic.twitter.com/EREF2L5ujX
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) 23 juin 2019
