Haas team boss Guenther Steiner says another disappointing performance from the US outfit in Mexico was somewhat mitigated by the Italian's very low expectations.
Neither Romain Grosjean nor Kevin Magnussen were ever a force to be reckoned with for Haas' midfield rivals, with both drivers concluding their race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez well out of the top ten.
Haas' Mexican weekend was simply a story of its VF19 crucially lacking speed.
"The way we directed the race was okay, it’s the car is just not fast enough," Steiner said. "
"What can you do? You try to get the best out of it, especially with Kevin that’s what was there, there wasn’t more there. That’s it. So that’s the positive."
Still, one feels that for Steiner, this year's troubled campaign just can't end soon enough.
"I’m not disappointed because my hopes were always very low, so it’s like the disappointment goes away. The best news? It’s only three more [races] to go!"
Unlike his boss, Grosjean was hard pressed to find anything positive about his weekend in Mexico, the Frenchman's comments sounding all too familiar.
"It was a tough afternoon with nothing working very well," Grosjean said.
"Let’s hope the next race is better. We need to find out what’s going on with the car because it didn’t feel right since FP3 and the race confirmed that."
Speculating on the weekend ahead, Haas' home race in Austin, Steiner believes his team will at least fare better than last Sunday.
"Austin will still be difficult, but not as bad as Mexico," he reckoned.
"With the high altitude we struggled more and we knew coming here that this will be (difficult) and it was."
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