Formula 1 | To succeed Monaco, Steiner analyzes Haas F1 ‘disappointment’ in Barcelona
The two Haas were in Q3 (first time since Brazil 2019) in Barcelona last weekend… but Kevin Magnussen suffered a collision with Lewis Hamilton the next day at the start of the race and Mick Schumacher, on a bad two-stop strategy at the stands, a row tumbled to the 14th.
Happiness on Saturday, misfortune on Sunday: has Günther Steiner found the causes of this disenchantment?
“We obviously took some disappointment out of Barcelona. We did things that weren’t perfect, we have a lot of work to do. We can’t do anything about Kevin’s incident, you can’t learn a lot there and what we tried afterwards with him requires a safety car. »
“With Mick, we have to see why we ended up with the strategy we chose and what we can do to improve it in the future. I’m not jumping to conclusions, it wasn’t completely stupid because there were a lot of unknowns, especially after his first stint with the new tyres, where we lost a lot of positions. So we have to analyze that before drawing a conclusion. »
The best news for Haas was actually paradoxical: even without changes, Kevin Magnussen finished very close in qualifying to Valtteri Bottas (who was him on an evolved Alfa Romeo). Is Steiner thus improved in his strategy of not having his F1 evaluated in a hurry?
“It’s very difficult to judge who found the most momentum but the most obvious progressions were those of Mercedes and Alfa Romeo. For the others, I don’t know what rhythm they found and I don’t know if it’s an exception for a single race with very strange conditions – it was very hot, very unusual for Spain. So we have to wait a few classes to find out. We obviously chose not to make changes but we made our car faster, at least in qualifying, so I think we found something in the settings. We still have something in the car that we haven’t released, so we’re working on that a bit more, but we made a very good step in Spain. »
“We are in the middle of the grid but in the middle of the grid this year, varying from race to race. In some courses one car is good, and in the following another. I think it’s very interesting and that’s how it should be – it mixes up the hierarchy. »
Now comes the Monaco Grand Prix: a circuit where every opportunity is possible in the event of a crazy race. But hasn’t Monaco lost some of its charm with somewhat soporific Grands Prix in recent years?
“Monaco is obviously a classic, and has always been. It’s a place we like to go too. I always say that races with a slightly different direction are preferable, because then the fans can expect to have races with different specificities. Monaco is one of those special races in the calendar. »
Innovation this year, F1 no longer runs on Thursdays with a break on Friday, but according to a normal format. This is good logistical news given that F1 immediately follows Monaco after Barcelona.
“If we had stuck to the old formula of running on Thursday and being off on Friday, it wouldn’t have worked with two classes in a row, or it would have been very difficult. With a calendar of 22 classes this year, it would have been very difficult to add another date to the calendar for the people working there. The decision was the right one, for us it’s normal, and we don’t come home late on Thursdays because we’re not used to it. I think it had to be done and there won’t be any big changes – no one will remember that we were riding on Thursdays and not Fridays. »