Steiner 'sure' Haas car has more potential

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says he is “sure” the American outfit can unlock more potential out of its maiden F1 car over the course of the season.

Haas enjoyed a successful series debut in Melbourne a fortnight ago, as Romain Grosjean secured sixth place in a wild, rain-hit season opener. With dry running almost guaranteed at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Steiner was asked how much more performance his team could extract from the VF-16.

“I hope a lot,” the 50-year-old replied. “In percentage I cannot say but there is for sure more in it, we know there is more in it, we just need to find out how far we can go and we will also do upgrades, which we are planning and we know that the car will get better.

“I mean in Australia I think we did 12 timed laps between the two drivers in total in the dry, so I hope there is more potential than what we did two weeks ago.”

Despite a great start to their first-ever F1 campaign, Steiner remains aware that there is still room for improvement for Haas, most notably on the operational side of things.

Having not had the opportunity to perform a pit stop in representative conditions during the Australian Grand Prix due to the race being red-flagged, Haas sets about practicing extensively to that end.

“With the pit stops I don’t know if we have to improve because we haven’t done one so it is difficult to say,” Steiner added. “We had quite a slow one because we didn’t do one. The guys are better prepared than Australia so hopefully we will have time to do them tomorrow during the free practice sessions.

“We will try them in real life, with complete gear including the helmet to make sure that we are prepared for this weekend. Are we good enough? I don’t know yet but we will for sure try to get them as fast as possible.”

TOP STORY: Alonso ruled out of Bahrain Grand Prix by FIA

RACE PREVIEW: Bahrain Grand Prix

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