Steiner: Haas upgrades are 'positive' despite lack of points

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A number of new upgrades introduced by the Haas team at the Canadian Grand Prix last weekend performed as expected, reports team boss Guenther Steiner.

A new front nose, floor and bargeboard made their appearance on the VF-18 in Montreal, and represented "positive" progress for the team according to Steiner.

However, drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen still failed to finish in the top ten, meaning Haas remains tied for seventh place in the constructors standings with Toro Rosso.

“The data shows it does what it should be doing," Steiner reported when asked about the performance of the upgrade package.

"If you compare the data and this year with the data we get from the aero department, we were never misled - so why should we doubt that one?

"In general, it’s positive," he insisted. "But the negative we haven’t got any points again.

“Romain is very happy [with the upgrades]," insisted Steiner. "I think Kevin says he wants to see a little bit more on a more normal track, not on one of the special tracks like here."

Grosjean finished in 12th place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, handicapped by a back row start after suffering a turbo-related failure right at the start of qualifying on Saturday.

Steiner hoping that Haas will finally 'get lucky'

Despite starting the race from 11th, Magnussen ended up finishing one place behind his team mate.

“I think when you start in these positions you’re just put in positions with all the blue flags, the tyre cools down and all that stuff," Steiner suggested.

"You just go down in a downward spiral where it’s difficult to come back up so that’s where we ended up in.

"Kevin said on his ultrasofts he was overheating them a little bit," he added. "On the supersofts Kevin was very happy, and Romain was not so happy.

"We can take away the car is quick, but we didn’t have a chance to get it out."

Ultimately only time will tell whether the latest upgrades are going to boost Haas' performance over the summer.

"I am not jumping to a conclusion.

"I want to see the car more on a normal track," he said. "When I mean normal, it’s more like the next three tracks which are coming.

"[That will allow us] to get a little more data to say who likes it better, who likes it not," he added. "I think Kevin is normally pretty good in adapting to whatever he does."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.