Guenther Steiner Says Haas at Rock Bottom
A fed up and frustrated Guenther Steiner has said ‘it cannot get worse’ as he looks to put bad luck and human error behind him, and motivate the Haas team to turn around the 2019 season before the wheels fall off completely.
Haas show unbelievable pace in qualifying, and are often the ‘best of the rest’ on Saturday, however, the teams inability to get this years Pirelli’s to work in harmony with their car, a problem several teams are experiencing, sees the team languishing in eighth place in the Constructors Championship, just three points ahead of ninth-ranked team Alfa Romeo Racing.
Speaking about the team’s recent struggles, Steiner said “There must be an end to it. What can you do? There’s a point where you cannot get more annoyed. I wouldn’t say I’m depressed, but there must be an end, there must be an upward trend somewhere because it cannot get worse. I hope this point comes soon.”
The biggest problem facing Steiner and Hass, and one they have yet to overcome, is the thinner tread of the Pirelli tyres which has so far compromised their race pace throughout 2019.
“For us, the tyres are so inconsistent and I think it’s the same for others. One car is very quick at one race and at the next race he is nowhere. When you’re on a high, you think you’ve figured it out, and then the next race you’re back to reality. It’s such a rollercoaster.
“If you look at Monte Carlo, in qualifying we were not even two-tenths off a Ferrari. In Canada, how many seconds we were off it? It can’t only be the car, it’s the tyres. Ferrari didn’t have a bad car in Monte Carlo. Maybe they didn’t get the tyres to work there and we did.
“It’s very sporadic what is happening. The general level of confidence is in theory we should be ok but can I tell you with knowledge we are ok? No. Because we don’t know when they work and when they don’t work. A lot of people are asking to go back to last year’s tread of tyres because they seem to be more consistent. It cannot only be us.”
After a nightmare weekend in Canada that saw Magnussen hit the wall in qualifying and Grosjean have his race ruined on the opening lap trying to avoid a collision, Steiner will be hoping for a reversal of fortunes when racing resumes this weekend in France.