"We still have a lot to come" - Haas 'would be on pole' at the 2022 F1 Spanish GP with its upgrades, jokes team boss Guenther Steiner
Haas F1 team principal Gunther Steiner has joked that the American team could have battled for pole at the 2022 F1 Spanish GP had they brought upgrades to their car.
The Haas VF-22 was the only car bereft of any new parts or updates at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during the sixth round of the ongoing F1 season.
This, however, did not deter Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, with both drivers reaching Q3 during qualifying in Spain.
After the race, Steiner spoke to the media, saying:
“We still have a lot to come. Can you imagine if we had an upgrade? We would be on pole! I told you we would get quicker with no upgrades, and we did. I always said we need to find the sweet spot of this car.”
Steiner, who has seen his team score points thrice thus far in the campaign, went on to add, saying:
“You bring upgrades to Barcelona because you know the race track, and I was thinking, ‘Okay, we know the race track, so it’s a good time to get the best out of this car’, and that’s what race engineering did.”
Haas will now head to the 2022 F1 Monaco GP being P8 in the World Constructors' Championship with 15 points after six rounds of the campaign.
Haas F1's upgrades delayed by four or five races, confirmed by Gunther Steiner
Haas F1 team principal Gunther Steiner admitted that his team will have to wait a bit longer than the others for their upgrades in the 2022 season.
Speaking in an interview carried by GPFans before the 2022 F1 Spanish GP, the Italian-American had said:
“Normally Spain is the obvious place to bring upgrades and I think quite a few teams are planning them. I don’t know how much difference they will make on each car and what they will bring. We have decided to wait a little bit longer with upgrades as I still think we have performance in the car without them which we have to get on the track, so sometimes we achieve it, sometimes we don’t.”
Steiner further added, saying:
“We have a good upgrade package in about four or five races coming, so I’m confident about that and what the other ones are bringing, as of right now I don’t know.”
Given Steiner's predicted timeline, it is safe to assume that the American outfit will not be bringing any major upgrades to their car for the forthcoming 2022 F1 Monaco GP weekend either.