Gunther Steiner: “We approach this race a bit like a testing session.”
Since the beginning of the season, the Haas hasn't been as effective in races as in qualifying. Günther Steiner is working hard with his team to find the right balance. He sees this weekend in Austria as a test and an opportunity to find the right set-up for the Haas.
In Montreal, Haas perfectly showed its major problem this season: performance on a fast lap but not in the race. Despite Nico Hülkenberg’s 2nd fastest time, albeit a bit lucky, the Haas drivers finished far from the points in the race. It’s a problem that needs to be addressed if the team hopes to score points and thus catch up with its competitors in the F1 2023 standings.
A test weekend in Austria
Haas will use this sprint weekend in Austria to try to pinpoint the issues with the car and understand why there is such a significant lack of performance during races.
« We approach this race a bit like a practice session. We have a lot of things to do to try and solve our race pace problems, so we have some ideas. Since we have two races this weekend, we have twice as much time to try different things,” said the Haas team boss.
Günther Steiner is even willing to compromise on a possible good result: the important thing this weekend is to find a solution regarding this lack of performance in the Grand Prix. Obviously, we always try to achieve the best possible result, but it is also possible that we make a compromise in order to truly understand what is happening with our car on race day, he declared.
Improving for the upcoming races and 2024
For Günther Steiner, the main thing is to be able to improve for the rest of the season and thus score points. But for the upcoming races, we may try to find a better compromise between the two sessions, qualifying and the race, so something in between. We are working hard on this point and trying to find what we can do in the next races to improve it, said the Italo-American.
He also emphasizes the need to identify this flaw in order to properly plan for next year and avoid repeating the same mistakes: they can be fatal for a small team. We have a few leads and it is certain that this will have an impact on the design of the VF-24. It is evident that we will have to remove this characteristic from the car next year, he explained.
A boss nevertheless satisfied with his pilots
The Haas Team Principal is satisfied with his drivers’ determination to solve this issue. He explains that they are very proactive in researching and improving the car, and they don’t hesitate to put in the effort to identify what is preventing Haas from performing well in races. “I must admit that I am very happy that Kevin and Nico are integral parts of the efforts made to solve the problem and find a solution, both in the short and long term. They are both very positive, not just about the race performance, but also about the fact that we can overcome the current issue,” stated Günther Steiner.
Haas will therefore use Austria as a testing weekend to find out what is causing the car’s performance to suffer during races. Discovering this issue is crucial for the team. If they are unable to do so, scoring points will be difficult to achieve.
