Breaking news
Formula 1 Australian GP
Haas underprepared after wet practice - Steiner
Friday's wet weather in Melbourne has left the Haas F1 team “not as prepared as it should be” ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, according to team principal Gunther Steiner.
Andrew van Leeuwen
Edited: Mar 18, 2016, 11:46 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
With both of today’s practice sessions marred by inconsistent weather conditions, meaningful running was kept to a minimum as the new Formula 1 season kicked into life in Melbourne.
That was particularly bad news from Haas, F1’s newest team left feeling significantly underprepared after a low-key Friday.
“Today was one of those days when you are happy to see two cars going out, and you know you have done what you were working a long time on, but then with these weather conditions you get to the evening and you are not happy – because you haven’t done enough,” Steiner told media after FP2.
“We didn’t get enough data, we didn’t test enough; I still think we are not as well prepared as we could be.
“And I’m not just blaming the weather, you have to blame yourself. Today the weather was not helping. I don’t want to use it as an excuse, because it sounds like an excuse. But it was not helping.
“If you’re trying to understand the car, and every time you go out there the conditions change, it’s like whatever you learn, is it real? Do I believe it, or not? Because every time the drivers say something different. Is it the car, or is it the weather? It is really inconsistent.
“Between wind and rain, you cannot have it worse. I hope tomorrow is better.”
Risk-free the priority
With a relative lack of spare parts on board, Steiner admitted that today’s focus was on limiting risks, even if that came at the expense of some data collation.
“We cannot have two crashes with the same car,” he said. “We have at least one of each part, most of them two - so for each car one set, but we cannot take big risks.
“If we had damage today or tomorrow… the last thing we want is to miss the race. That would be silly to come here in these conditions and take risks. That was the biggest thing today; do not take any risks.”
And with more rain forecast for tomorrow, the same policy is likely to apply for FP3.
“The possibilities to learn are very small so there is no point taking risks,” he added.
“We will just try to make sure the car is ready for qualifying, and be done with it. Because if we damage a car, or do something stupid, we can not go out immediately in Q1.
“I think we’ll take less risks tomorrow than we took today – if the weather conditions are similar.”
Not ruling out Q2 appearance
Despite a lack of running today, Steiner is refusing to rule out a Q2 berth tomorrow – particularly with the new format set to be used for the first time.
“We will try hard to get into Q2, absolutely,” he added.
“With the new format, we may have a better chance. Because somebody else could mess up as well. It’s not only us that could mess up at this point, somebody else could as well.”
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
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Australian GP: Friday's press conference
Next article Ferrari boss predicts 'supermarket queue' in qualifying
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Andrew van Leeuwen
Toby Price explains 'unfortunate' Mitsubishi split
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Toby Price explains 'unfortunate' Mitsubishi split
Supercars parity review begins
Supercars
Supercars
Supercars parity review begins
SRO set for bigger Australian GT presence
GT World Challenge Australia
GT World Challenge Australia
SRO set for bigger Australian GT presence
More from
Esteban Gutierrez
"This is the American dream": Inside Haas’ shock F1 debut 10 years on
Formula 1
Formula 1
"This is the American dream": Inside Haas’ shock F1 debut 10 years on
Gutierrez joins Glickenhaus for Le Mans as full entry list revealed
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Gutierrez joins Glickenhaus for Le Mans as full entry list revealed
Ex-F1 driver Gutierrez joins Inter Europol for 2022 WEC campaign
WEC
WEC
Ex-F1 driver Gutierrez joins Inter Europol for 2022 WEC campaign
More from
Haas F1 Team
Alpine drivers penalised post-race, Ryo Hirakawa scores on F1 debut at Mexico GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
16 h
Alpine drivers penalised post-race, Ryo Hirakawa scores on F1 debut at Mexico GP
Ryo Hirakawa could have "easily" made Q2 in F1 Mexico GP without late traffic
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
Ryo Hirakawa could have "easily" made Q2 in F1 Mexico GP without late traffic
Latest news
Honda Racing US echoes Porsche urgency over unified 2030 rules framework
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 31 min
Honda Racing US echoes Porsche urgency over unified 2030 rules framework
Toto Wolff: Two sponsors left Mercedes after promoting Kimi Antonelli into F1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
46 min
Toto Wolff: Two sponsors left Mercedes after promoting Kimi Antonelli into F1
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
55 min
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
1 h
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Feature
Discover prime content
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
Subscribe