Haas boss Guenther Steiner says the squad is suffering from “immense” tyre degradation that is stymying its prospects in grands prix.
Haas has taken only three top 10 finishes so far in 2023 and slipped to eighth in the constructors’ championship in Canada.
Nico Hulkenberg qualified strongly in both Spain and Canada, starting fifth on Sunday, but on both occasions swiftly lost positions
Hulkenberg conceded he was expecting to slip out of the top 10 even before the timing of the safety car scuppered his chances.
Hulkenberg eventually trailed home in 15th position.
“It was a one-way street in the wrong direction,” said Hulkenberg of his race.
“It was to some extent expected, but we obviously always hope for the best so that it’s better than what you had in the previous event.
“It just once again confirms that we have a lot of work to do on the long run pace and entire consistency because that’s really hurting our Sunday.”
Haas has now fallen behind Alfa Romeo in the standings and is only a point clear of Williams in the aftermath of Alex Albon’s drive to seventh in Canada.
“It’s pretty clear now, obviously the result is not what we should be doing and it’s very disappointing,” said Steiner.
“I think we know where to look, the issue is as soon as we get into traffic and behind cars, our degradation is immense – we cannot get the tyre performance back and we just slip back.
“We can clearly see it, as soon as we get away from free air and start to fight, we just degrade. We know really what we need to look for, and we’ll be looking for it.
“We need to put our heads together and try to find a solution to this and not hide behind good qualifying results.”
