Afrigather Haas bounced again from a point-less 2021 to complete eighth on this 12 months’s constructors’ championship, having fun with highs by way of Kevin Magnussen’s fifth place in Bahrain and his shock pole place in Brazil.
Magnussen’s end in Bahrain got here regardless of his late return to the workforce following the exit of Nikita Mazepin and title sponsor Uralkali after the opening take a look at in Barcelona within the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Bahrain outcome recommended Haas may very well be within the thick of the midfield combat over the 12 months, however the workforce usually discovered itself yo-yoing from competing properly contained in the factors one week to battling to make it by way of Q1 the following, prompting Steiner to label its season as being a “rollercoaster.”
Steiner defined that he felt “cautious” about Haas’s possibilities after the efficiency in Bahrain, however was shocked to see such a dip in type that adopted a couple of races later.
“I did not anticipate a fall after a couple of races,” Steiner informed Motorsport.com in an end-of-season interview.
“I feel in Australia, we had a shit race. I did not anticipate that huge falloff after the primary two races, nevertheless it occurred. And you then assume, now we have to come again. It took us just a little little bit of time.
“Then we had once more Silverstone and Austria, which was superb. That is why I say, [it was] very tough to foretell.”
Guenther Steiner, Workforce Principal, Haas F1
Picture by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images
Haas introduced only a single main improve for its VF-22 automobile all season on the Hungarian Grand Prix in late July, however nonetheless discovered itself capable of combat with better-developed rivals by way of the second half of the season.
Steiner famous that a few of its strongest weekends, akin to at Spielberg and Silverstone, the place it recorded double-point finishes with Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, got here earlier than the improve, solely to then battle for type as soon as the developments had been utilized.
Following the Austrian Grand Prix the place Schumacher and Magnussen completed sixth and eighth respectively, the workforce scored simply three extra factors all season: in Austin, when Magnussen completed ninth; and when the Dane completed eighth within the Brazil dash after beginning on pole.
“The place I feel it is a bit of a thriller is we did not have an improve in Austria and Silverstone, and we had been very quick,” mentioned Steiner.
“Then we put the improve on, and we weren’t quick once more. After which hastily, we had been quick once more. These are the issues that are just a little bit mysterious.
“I would not say we all know 100% what it’s. It is a mixture of issues.
“I feel as soon as we launched the automobile, we had a little bit of problem to seek out extra efficiency straightaway, or the efficiency finds had been too small to make modifications to the automobile.”
