Romain Grosjean says Haas’ next target must be to secure a top-four finish in the Formula 1 standings, but remains wary of the team’s opponents.
Haas finished eighth during its first two years in Formula 1 but last season rose to fifth, having spent much of the campaign scrapping with Renault over fourth.
“I think you always want to do better and last year was a big step for us from the first two years,” said Grosjean.
“But we weren’t miles away from fourth so I believe that we want to be better and therefore fourth is the next target.
“Last few years the car has been good at the beginning and we have improved the team since day one.
“I’m very proud of the work we have been doing and the growth of the team. It’s been a big journey and I don’t think it’s over yet.
“The last few years we had a good car at the beginning of the year and clearly last year we stepped that up and kept it going for the whole year, so I’m looking forward to driving the car and see how it goes and hopefully have a good season.”
Haas finished 29 points adrift of Renault in last year’s battle for fourth, while Force India’s combined total from its two entries would have elevated it above Haas in the final reckoning.
Grosjean outlined that Haas cannot underestimate the teams that it beat in the championship standings last year.
“We set the bar quite high up last year with fifth,” he said.
“We want to keep an eye on fourth if it’s possible. The first indication of how good the car is will be in Barcelona. Then how much development we can put on the car for this season.
“I’m not thinking we are going to be [with] Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes.
“I think Renault could be strong, McLaren you never know – they are a big team, a lot of history and could come back strong, we know that Racing Point is injecting a lot of money in the team.
“Toro Rosso is going to be close to Red Bull in terms of technical partnership, they share the same engine.
“There is a lot of people who want to be best of the rest, it’s a very competitive world and we need to do our best.”
