Haas now aiming to score points in every F1 race

With its points-scoring debut in Australia having been helped by a mid-race red flag, the team showed at Sakhir on Sunday that Melbourne was no fluke as Romain Grosjean finished fifth.

Team principal Gunther Steiner was delighted at the showing, which has elevated his team to fifth in the constructors' championship, and says there should be more to come this season.

However, he thinks that matching top five finishes will not be an easy task.

“I think fifth is a little bit to ask too much for,” he explained. “We want to try to get points now at every race. That is the objective. If we reach it or not I don't know.

“We know now well enough the car, what it can do and everyone has seen the pace over two races. So I think it is possible to make points.

“We always had one car at the finish, so if you have two cars then the chances are double. Sure we want to try to get points every time, but to try to always be fifth is a little bit greedy here – and we don't want to be that.”

Pace surprise

Although Grosjean had qualified ninth, which allowed him to start on new supersofts, Steiner said that the team had not expected go so well.

“We didn't expect fifth,” he explained. “After qualifying we hoped to make points. You can never expect anything in racing in my opinion.

“You try to do your best to get points. In the morning I wake up with no expectations and then you try to make it happen. That is our philosophy.

“So in practice on Friday or Saturday, we felt we could make points and that is our objective.

"Sometimes we will be off and then we say we do our best to get two cars to the end. We have no expectation now to always be fifth. It just doesn't happen.”

Two-car finishes

Despite the joy at Grosjean's result, Steiner has said that the team remains frustrated that his teammate Esteban Gutierrez has yet to finish a race.

In Australia he crashed out with Fernando Alonso, while in Bahrain he had to retire with a brake problem.

“It's the second race in a row he doesn't finish,” added Steiner. “We have to investigate what it is. We had a problem on the front left.

"We think it is something on the brakes but we don't know exactly. Our aim should be to get two cars to the finish – and that should be China.”