Guenther Steiner: Austrian GP result ‘redemption’ for Haas F1

Guenther Steiner says Haas’ Austrian Grand Prix result provides “redemption” after a sequence of missed opportunities earlier in the year.

Haas emerged as one of the standout midfield runners but dropped an array of points in the opening rounds – most prominently in Australia when a wheel nut issue robbed the team of a likely fourth and fifth.

Haas comfortably spearheaded the midfield challenge in Austria last weekend and the high rate of attrition among the leaders assisted its cause, as Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen took fourth and fifth respectively.

Haas’ record haul of 22 points lifted it above McLaren and Force India in the championship and it now holds fifth spot.

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“It’s a redemption, we got back,” said Steiner. “Because everybody said the team must be demoralised but they never were.

“I always said everyone knows the potential of the cars. It will come if you work hard. It came.

“We had some points but we didn’t make enough. This time, we scored. We were lucky this time, by two dropping out or three dropping out in front of us to finish fourth and fifth.

“In the end, the car showed it was the best of the rest, dominating that position. Everyone slowed down a bit at the end with the tyres, everyone was getting scared having a problem with it.

“Everybody executed very good the whole weekend, we didn’t have issues. This was a good weekend, not just a good race or a lucky race. Good executions and the luck was the three in front of us went out. Otherwise we would have been seventh and eighth.”

Haas is now just 13 points behind fourth-placed Renault after a dismal event for the French manufacturer, and Steiner insists his squad must now aim high.

“You can’t target fifth because we are fifth now,” he said. “You need to try and get more. Luck goes around. Sometimes, somebody gets lucky and someone gets unlucky.

“Renault are a strong team, they know what they are doing and they will not make it easy for us.

“Now we can try to fight but we have to keep the others behind as Force India and McLaren are still very strong.

“We will try to get to fourth. If we achieve it or not, I don’t know.”