Haas' Steiner hails 'amazing' new Ferrari engine

Haas' team boss Guenther Steiner is highly impressed with its 2017 supply of Ferrari engines, underlining the unit's performance and reliability.

Ferrari  put a stamp of its own this week in Barcelona, ending the first pre-season test hot on the hells of arch-rival Mercedes.

But Haas' new VF-17 also enjoyed a solid week of work, thanks in no small part to the reliability of its supplier's new power unit.

"The engine and gearbox here, we had almost a flawless test with the same engine - we never changed engines," enthused Steiner.

"We had twice an electronics problem but it was a software problem, nothing big mechanical. They have done a fantastic job in my opinion.

"To come out here with a new engine, a complete new engine, and be this reliable, it is amazing. If you look at the other ones around, and they are no dummies, they have quite a few issues.

"So from last year to this year [Ferrari] stepped up a lot and it is very good."

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While the US outfit ran with few troubles through its aero and data programmes, Steiner believes it's early days' still to predict any sort of pecking order among the mid-field runners.

"I think we made a step, but how good it is is difficult to say yet," added the Austrian.

"We are pretty happy. We still have some work to do to utilise it, but I think it is more like - we made a good step but have the others made an even a better step? We don't know yet.

"The times are very confusing here. With the tyres it is pretty easy to see what they are doing, but the fuel loads are tricky to find out, or be certain about what is happening.

"In general, we are pretty confident we are in the mid pack. But are we at the top of the midpack or are we at the back?

"I don't know yet. I just hope we are more to the middle of the mid-pack than last year."

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