Haas’ early season form has put the US outfit among F1’s top mid-field contenders, but luck has enabled both Renault and McLaren to deliver more points, says team boss Guenther Steiner.
Haas dominated its mid-field rivals at the outset in Melbourne, but its double pit stop blunder deprived the team of a significant haul of points.
Since, only Kevin Magnussen has laid down a few markers for the young squad, with a good performance in Bahrain and a single point in China.
Steiner sees Haas clearly holding its own against Renault and McLaren, but it also needs to carve out its own “luck”.
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Steiner buoyed by Magnussen’s early-season success
“The first three races we were always there,” he told Motorsport.com.
“At the moment it’s between us, Renault and McLaren for fourth.
“I think the picture is quite clear as it stands at the moment and I hope we can finally pull one off because the other ones are getting lucky and we are getting unlucky.
“But we need to make our own luck, to be honest. Australia wasn’t great and otherwise we would be where we should be.”
Strategy and circumstances went against the team in China, but sustained car development coupled with an improvement of its knowledge of tyre usage – a weak point for Haas in 2017 – should keep the team on track for a shot at the title of “best of the rest” this year.
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