Haas needs to raise the lower bar in 2018 - Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen says Haas should target improved consistency for next season and "raise the lower bar" to eliminate its awful race weekends.

Haas has undoubtedly improved its performance in its second year in F1, producing some good results against its experienced mid-field rivals.

But the US outfit has also left behind too many bad weekends this season, which have cost Haas dearly.

"It has been a season of ups and downs," said the Dane.

"Performance-wise some races we have been very good, and at other races, we have been pretty poor. So next year we need to try to find more consistency.

"We don't necessarily need to focus on our highs because they are quite high. We just need to raise the lower bar so we don't have those awful weekends."

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As Haas strives to improve, Magnussen believes a crucial area which require better understanding is tyres.

"I think it is a general understanding of the car that perhaps isn't strong enough. And also tyres, we don't have any specific tyre specialists.

"We have people in the team who have a lot of experience but their expertise isn't tyres, it is engineering, vehicle dynamics and aerodynamics.

"We need some specific tyre people and then also a better general understanding of the aero, our maps and correlation."

As a tight-knit outfit, Haas obviously lacks the human resources enjoyed by the sport's big teams, but Magnussen points to a few advantages which come with that relative weakness.

"It is lacking in size of course compared to the teams I've been to previously, but it has a lot of strength in other areas," he said.

"You really have a lot of synergy in the team and everyone is working together, whereas I found in other teams, big teams, that you have the different departments growing very big.

"It can become a challenge when you have a massive team.

"You have strengths that outweigh the challenges, but I feel like there is some strength as well by being small and being one team where everyone is working together."

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