Haas not even close to unlocking car's full potential

Haas F1 Team which kicked off its adventure in Grand Prix racing this season with a string of good results has yet to extract the most from its VF-16 2016 contender, according to chief engineer Ayao Komatsu.

While Esteban Gutierrez still hasn't achieved a top 10 finish in the first five races, team leader Romain Grosjean scored in Australia, Bahrain and Russia, demonstrating the US team's outright potential.

But Komatsu believes a fair amount of progress remains in the cards with regard to the car's development.

"One thing as a race team is designing a really good car [and another] is completely analysing and trying to get the most out of it," Komatsu told Motorsport.com.

"So to be honest I think the Bahrain qualifying result and the race result did us injustice to the car, but we still cannot get the best out of the car. Nowhere near the best out of the car at every single circuit.

"For instance in China, Russia we under-performed. We've been learning lessons every single time. There is just loads of room to improve."

While not taking anything away from Haas' impressive debut and from the hard work associated with the team's results, the engineer admitted to be surprised by its current tally of points.

"P6 in Melbourne was a bit lucky. But we were there to take advantage. P5 in Bahrain again we did everything right from our side. But few other people did a different strategy choice. So again that benefited us.

"Even in Russia the car wasn't performing but again there was a lap-one accident. Romain managed to stay out of trouble again with his experience, and he drove a faultless race in difficult conditions. Again it's just everything needs to come together."

Komatsu, who worked with Romain Grosjean at Lotus, also praised the Frenchman's contribution and commitment.

"It's very, very important, because he gives us a benchmark. If he says there is a certain problem in the car, we know we have a problem to solve.

"If he says he is happy with the car, like for instance in Bahrain like he did in qualifying, with one set of tyre, qualifying P9, we knew it was a limit. That was the car's limit.

"So it's really important that Romain gives us a benchmark. He's more confident than before in a way. It's very important."

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