Unlikely Haas will be at 100% for Melbourne - Gutierrez

Esteban Gutierrez has warned not to expect Haas to be operating at 100% by the Australian Grand Prix.

Haas enjoyed an impressive first pre-season test in its history last week as the team managed more mileage than both McLaren and Manor, even getting in a race simulation on the final day. While hoping for my progress during the second test this week, Gutierrez says it is unlikely the team will feel fully prepared by the time the first race comes around.

"It is quite ambitious to say 100%!" Gutierrez said. "You have a lot of teams on the grid so many years behind them I would not say 100%, it will take us some time.

"I see that is our biggest challenge really get the team well integrated, working efficiently but everybody has a great attitude, great atmosphere. That we have a good base to follow to the next steps."

And Gutierrez says Haas should be able to exceed last week's mileage and work on finding out the car's true performance during the second test.

"We can expect to be more solid. We need to be if we want to do the next step. I think we will naturally be after the experience of [the first test]. We will try to explore the car more, do more performance work, more on the set-up side, once we have solved all the reliability issues which fortunately are not big ones and are easy to fix."

Force India winter diary part seven - Shooting the drivers

GALLERY: Pre-season testing

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.

Recent Posts

Cadillac F1 owner Mark Walter reportedly facing federal probe

The Cadillac F1 team heads into this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix with a new team…

23 minutes ago

An F1 baptism by fire on home turf for Berger

On this day in 1984, Gerhard Berger started the first of his 210 Grands Prix,…

2 hours ago

Williams end Sainz uncertainty with multi-year contract extension

Williams has moved decisively to end the uncertainty over Carlos Sainz’s future, confirming that the…

3 hours ago

Confirmed: Hadjar out, Lawson in at Red Bull for Dutch GP

Red Bull has confirmed that Isack Hadjar will miss this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix after…

5 hours ago

Honda facing ‘important milestone’ as new PU debuts at Dutch GP

Honda is ready to give Aston Martin another reason for optimism at Zandvoort, with its…

6 hours ago

Albon explains why he backs Williams: 'We needed this tough year'

Alex Albon says he’s chosen belief over frustration in his decision to commit his future…

7 hours ago