Haas giving Magnussen 'another five races' to improve performance

It's perhaps not a hard deadline, but Haas team boss Guenther Steiner says he'll begin assessing Kevin Magnussen's future with the US outfit after the next five races.

Magnussen enjoyed a reasonably good season with Haas in 2022 after returning to the grid at the last hour following the team's decision to part ways with Nikita Mazepin.

However, since the start of Haas' 2023 campaign, Magnussen has been comfortably outpaced by new teammate and fellow F1 veteran Nico Hulkenberg who returned to the fray this year after a three-year absence, save for several one-off outings with Racing Point/Aston Martin F1 in 2020 and in 2022.

While Magnussen scored a top-ten finish in Jeddah, the disparity in performance between the Dane and his teammate is a concern for Steiner.

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"Kevin is not in a happy place at the moment, being behind Nico," Steiner told the Mirror.

"He is happy for the team, and he knows the car is there for him to be able to do it – he just needs to get it done."

Magnussen's current two-year contract with Haas runs until the end of the season, but Steiner says he'll start thinking about his driver's future after the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona in June.

"In the end it is all down to performance but, at the moment, I’m pretty relaxed about it," he added.

"I want to at least give another five races to see where we are and then start to think about it."

Regardless of who will fill Haas' seats in 2024, Steiner hopes to have his future deals signed and sealed well before the end of the season, unlike last year when the fate of Mick Schumacher – as well as Hulkenberg's hiring – were decided late in the day.

"Hopefully this year we can confirm what we are doing before the summer break because (a delay is) not nice from my point of view," Steiner concluded.

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