Breaking news

Formula 1 Japanese GP

Haas progress genuine despite Japanese GP letdown - Steiner

Haas F1 boss Gunther Steiner believes the team's performance at Suzuka is clear evidence of progress, even if its success in qualifying translated to no points in the grand prix itself.

Valentin Khorounzhiy

Edited: Oct 13, 2016, 1:48 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Romain Grosjean, Haas F1 Team VF-16

Guenther Steiner, Haas F1 Team Principal

Romain Grosjean, Haas F1 Team VF-16

Esteban Gutierrez, Haas F1 Team

Romain Grosjean, Haas F1 Team

Romain Grosjean, Haas F1 Team VF-16

Esteban Gutierrez, Haas F1 Team VF-16

Romain Grosjean, Haas F1 Team VF-16

Haas, which has been in the points four times this season with Romain Grosjean - most recently in Austria - qualified eighth with Grosjean and 10th with Esteban Gutierrez at Suzuka, making it the first time both of its cars appeared in Q3.

But both drivers fell out of the points in the race, Grosjean recording Haas' seventh 11th-place finish of the campaign.

Speaking after the race, Steiner suggested the blow of leaving Suzuka without points was softened by the fact the team had shown progress leading up to and throughout the weekend.

"The encouraging thing is what we know what the car can do," Steiner said.

"Seven times 11th, it's not a great feeling, but the good thing is - we know we can do it. If you look at it, the five good teams were in front of us with two cars, nobody drops out, it [the outcome] is logical.

"We took the fight to the Williams, we couldn't pull it off because they had an advantage in picking their advantage with strategy.

"It's bittersweet, but the encouraging thing is, we're getting better. We're not stagnating - already, staying the same for us would be a good point to be, but we're getting better."

Malaysia recovery

The Suzuka race was a week on after the Malaysian Grand Prix, which had turned disastrous for Haas when Grosjean exited through brake disc failure and Gutierrez retired after a losing a wheel.

"Our plate was full after Malaysia, to sort out the problems we had and also try to make the car quicker, to get a better set-up," Steiner said.

"I think, everybody worked hard and we achieved a lot in a very short time. That shows, for me, how the team's getting better - and after Malaysia, [where] everything went wrong which could go wrong, we had so many broken parts, the guys here were well-prepared, we were ready to go again.

"We are getting more efficient in how we do things and better prepared. And you cannot have this without time - to make experience takes time and the only thing you cannot buy is time. So I think we've made great progress. As long as we make progress, we're happy."

Q3 pace legitimate

Haas' double appearance in Q3 at Suzuka was only the second time the American team was at all present in the final segment of qualifying.

And while Steiner conceded the track favoured the Haas VF-16, he said the qualifying result was a legitimate indicator of the team's pace at high-speed venues.

"I think [Q3 double] was our genuine potential with the new front wing," Steiner said.

"The track favoured us - in Spa, Monza we were pretty good, and this is pretty high-speed, we are not this good in slower tracks."

Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Palmer: Renault "lifted" by recent success

Next article Inside Line F1 Podcast: Will Hamilton back Verstappen's aggressive moves?

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Kyle Larson sits alone on stage for NASCAR Championship Media Day

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

21 min

Kyle Larson sits alone on stage for NASCAR Championship Media Day

Max Verstappen jokes about rain threat in Brazil: "I've installed antivirus now!"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

54 min

Max Verstappen jokes about rain threat in Brazil: "I've installed antivirus now!"

Lewis Hamilton backs claims Charles Leclerc races him harder than F1 rivals

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

Lewis Hamilton backs claims Charles Leclerc races him harder than F1 rivals

Colton Herta backs Mexico IndyCar race following Pato O’Ward promoter callout

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 1 h

Colton Herta backs Mexico IndyCar race following Pato O’Ward promoter callout

Feature

Discover prime content

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Why Ferrari must act now after its own 'Papaya Rules' moment

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Filip Cleeren

Why Ferrari must act now after its own 'Papaya Rules' moment

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1960s

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Top 10 F1 cars of the 1960s

How Ryo Hirakawa performed on his surprise F1 debut in Mexico

Formula 1

Mexican GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

How Ryo Hirakawa performed on his surprise F1 debut in Mexico

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts