F1i's look back over the 2017 Formula 1 world championship season team-by-team and driver-by-driver puts Haas in the spotlight.
Haas F1 Team
We're used to seeing Formula 1 teams suffer from that 'difficult second album' syndrome. After scoring a unexpectedly bright breakthrough success during their début season, all too often such teams suffer a sophomore slump as the reality of the year-on-year grind hits home.
Experienced team manager Guenther Steiner has made sure that this hasn't happened at Haas, although he's also admitted that he might have been too conservative at times and turned attention away from development of the VF-17 too early.
The hit-and-miss car certainly needed work - at times it looked a strong contender, but elsewhere issues with handling kept resurfacing especially with regard to tyres and brakes. Ultimately Haas scored points in 11 of the 20 races and were eighth in the constructors standings for the second year in succession, and not far off overhauling Toro Rosso and Renault at that. They twice qualified in the top six, and Romain Grosjean took their best result with sixth place in Austria.
It might be more solid than spectacular, but the sustained performance shows that Haas is here to stay.
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