“We are back to where we wanted to be” – Haas’ Guenther Steiner

It was a great first half of the season for the Haas F1 Team, as they made their way back into the points places after a disastrous couple of years. The side are not only a somewhat regular points finisher again, but they are also truly in the midfield fight rather than amongst the backmarkers.

Team Principal Guenther Steiner is glad the team are back to “where we wanted to be”, but insists that they are planning to go even higher than before with sixth-place in the Constructors’ on the American team’s radar.

“We haven’t readjusted, we are just back to where we wanted to be at the beginning of the season, now being in seventh. Hopefully we can keep this position in the championship, that’s battle number one. Battle number two is trying to get to sixth, but let’s see. We will always do our best and try to improve or at least not fall back.”

The team introduced their first and only upgrade of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix; however, this weekend in Spa both Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher will have the upgrade available to them, something only Magnussen had in Hungary.

“Yes, both cars will have the upgrade package. We had one kit ready before the shutdown so we said we’ll put it on one car to collect some data so when we’re back, we have that data and now we can already work on the set-up, getting out in Spa straightaway.” 

In the build-up to this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, it’s been announced that former Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver and now Scuderia Ferrari Reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi, will drive for the team in Free Practice One at both the Italian and United States Grand Prix’s, something which of course won’t count towards the two spots which must be taken by a young driver.

Steiner has revealed the reason as to why the Italian will be driving for the team, with it possibly being a hint as to who Haas are considering for 2023.

“Antonio is the reserve driver of Ferrari and they asked us if he could be in the car just to refresh him. When he gets in the car, he will have finished his Formula E season so there are no distractions for him anymore and I think he will attend all the races for Ferrari as reserve driver.

“Knowing our relationship with Ferrari, we’re more than happy to do this. They’re a big help in what we are doing, and I think it’s a good opportunity for Antonio to put him back in the spotlight, going out in FP1. He’s been out of Formula 1 for a year now, running in Formula E, so let’s see what he can do in FP1 so at least he can get accustomed again to the latest specification Formula 1 car.”