“Every point is worth a lot more this year than last year,” says Haas team boss Günther Steiner and records the points gained by the US racing team in Jeddah as the first notable success. “Yes, it’s a relief,” he says on the sidelines of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
“We knew our car wasn’t bad. But this year there are a lot of good cars, to be honest. But when you get a point, that’s always something you have in your hands. That’s very good . In Saudi Arabia our car was sixth fastest, so that’s a very good feeling.”
Expressed in terms of positions, that meant in Jeddah: tenth place for Kevin Magnussen, and thus the first point, and 13th place for Nico Hulkenberg. Although he had started before Magnussen, he had the worse start and was also the victim of an undercut.
Steiner knows: “You just have to do a good job, because it’s so tight. Every little mistake can take you from P6 to P10. In the same way, people who were behind in Saudi Arabia can be P5 here. So it’s all very tight.”
In theory, the first eight places have already been taken, says the Haas team boss, meaning Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mercedes. “Then there’s only ninth and tenth place, which means two points at once, and that can mean a lot.” Not to mention an outlier to the upside.
Steiner: The biggest weakness is the rear
“It could give you a big advantage if you get a very good result, like fifth or sixth place in a race. That will bring you up quite quickly this year,” says Steiner, looking at the championship table.
The team boss currently describes the rear as the biggest weakness of the Haas VF-23: “I think that we have a hard time in places like Bahrain, where you put a lot of strain on the rear tires and where the asphalt is rough. Those long corners like in Bahrain, I think that’s because the rear is our problem.”
When asked if this problem is aerodynamic or mechanical in nature, Steiner explains: “It’s a combination, like everything else. But it’s a fine line for rear aerodynamics to work. That depends on the right height and of how the rear suspension works.”
While this is still a construction site, Steiner is satisfied with the debut of newcomer Hülkenberg. “We got exactly what we wanted,” he says.
“We have that experience. He’s still fast, he showed that in his first race he made it to Q3, in the second race he almost made it to Q3. And I think he’s enjoying life here. He works really hard, he challenges our guys and that’s what we want him to challenge them, so so far I haven’t had any complaints, which is very rare.”
Hulkenberg: Made a lot of good progress
Looking back on the first two race weekends, Hülkenberg also says: “It went really well. Of course it’s still very early. There are no results yet, no points, but I have the feeling that we’ve made a lot of good progress.”
“Obviously the start of the season is a steep learning curve for the team, but also for myself after the break, so I feel pretty happy and I’m confident that we have more good things ahead of us,” believes the Formula 1 returnee.
In Melbourne, the third stop this season, he drove for the last time in 2019. “It’s a great city, a fantastic track here, with a park atmosphere. I think I’ve always had pretty good runs, races and a lot of points here. So we’re looking forward to moving out here,” enthuses Hulkenberg.
There is a slightly modified layout that offers more high speed. The Haas pilot was able to get a first impression of this in the simulator. “It’s definitely a lot smoother, more speed, a lot of medium-speed corners, high-speed corners. It feels pretty fast,” he concludes.
It remains to be seen whether there will be another team-internal duel with team-mate Magnussen, similar to the race in Jeddah. In any case, Steiner had nothing to complain about there: “I wasn’t nervous or anything because I see how they work together outside of the car, so you can roughly imagine how they do on the race track if nothing goes completely wrong.”
“They respect each other and knew there was no point in crashing into each other because it wouldn’t help either of them. I was pretty relaxed about it.”