Haas’ Steiner on Tough Spanish Grand Prix: “Not as planned but onwards and upwards”

Guenther Steiner is already putting the Spanish Grand Prix behind him after watching both Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher slide out of points contention on Sunday afternoon.

Magnussen had started eighth and Schumacher tenth after the Haas F1 Team put both cars into Q3 for the first time since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, but the formers race unravelled at turn four on the opening lap after wheel-to-wheel contact with Lewis Hamilton left him going through the gravel trap with a puncture. 

A pit stop put him at the back of the field, but with a lack of safety cars or drama, he was in for a lonely afternoon on his way to seventeenth, only managing to catch and pass the struggling Alexander Albon.

Schumacher fared a little better, particularly in the opening laps as he ran as high as sixth, but he dropped a few positions as others came charging through the field, and a gamble on pitting only twice backfired, meaning he ultimately ended fourteenth, well down on his target of the top ten.

Steiner, the Team Principal at Haas, admits the race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya did not go the way they were hoping it would, with things going away from them early, so they will put the weekend behind them and focus on to this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.

“The day didn’t go as planned,” said Steiner.  “There were a few things, first of all the interaction between Kevin and [Lewis] Hamilton in Turn 4 which put him out of the race really.

“With him we just tried to do things on a strategy that if something strange happened, we could maybe do something, but it didn’t work.

“With Mick it was a tough race, it was a very good start, and it all went well, but after six laps we lost a few positions, and then it just went away from us.

“Not as planned but onwards and upwards.”