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Steiner reveals what's behind Haas' impressive pre-season pace

Haas was an unexpected presence among the top tier runners in the second week of pre-season testing, but team boss Guenther Steiner isn't surprised by the team's step up in performance.

Kevin Magnussen was second in Thursday's session behind the unassailable Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, and Romain Grosjean upheld Haas' form on Friday, concluding his day of work to end up 1.2s adrift of Kimi Raikkonen.

According to Steiner, the US outfit's significant progress is linked to the team's better understanding of its tyres, a weak point during last year's campaign.

"We got [the tyres] to work," Steiner told Formula1.com on Friday in Barcelona.

"We aren't using any hypersofts here. We got them to work on all [the other compounds]. The ultrasofts, everyone seemed to have the same problem.

"Nobody really goes from the supersofts to the ultrasofts any faster. But we tried it now, and the conditions here from 11:30 onwards don’t go rapidly down, it's just warming up.

"We worked on the ultrasofts now and we got a little bit more understanding. All in all, we're pretty okay."

While getting a hold on tyre management will likely boost Haas' performance, Steiner insisted its VF-18 chassis will require a fair amount of work before it is rolled out onto the Melbourne grid in two weeks.

"There have not been many [updates], we’ve got a few bits and pieces," he said.

"We had a few reliability issues with body parts in the first days. We need to fix them and that will already be an upgrade to what we are running now, as we are currently a little bit compromised.

"We'll get that all fixed and then add a few parts that we had planned from before."

©WRI2

Before the long haul to Australia, Steiner isn't making any bold predictions about the grid's pecking order, whether it's the front of the field or Haas' own mid-field turf.

"The top three? I think up to now Mercedes was a little bit ahead, but again, it's not all done yet," he says.

"They are very close as well. Red Bull picked up and the Ferrari is not bad. This morning they were really good and yesterday, so I think it will hopefully be very interesting.

"[The midfield] will be much of the same it looks like. Because it's so close, it's difficult to estimate at the moment. We'll just find out in Australia."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.

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