A difficult race for Haas in Austria left the team with no further indication why their car’s performance is so variable.
Kevin Magnussen set the fifth-fastest time in qualifying, but he struggled in the race and finished 19th, with only Robert Kubica’s Williams behind him.Team principal Guenther Steiner is mystified by the scale of the difference between their qualifying and race pace.
“Running around like that is negatively amazing,” he said. “After qualifying in fifth position, to then have a race like this, I can’t say anything other than it’s disappointing.
“We’ll keep working on it, try to get a better understanding of why this kind of performance is happening from qualifying to the race. We just do not understand it, at the moment we have no clue.”
Magnussen, who has finished the last three races 17th, 17th and 19th, said Sunday’s race felt “hopeless”.
“We didn’t have any pace today in the race after qualifying fifth yesterday,” he said. “It’s disappointing after a very good day on Saturday.
“It’s strange, and very frustrating. Nothing was really working, it felt pretty hopeless. It’s really confusing.”
Romain Grosjean finished 16th in the team’s other car. Haas has fallen to ninth in the constructors’ championship having failed to score in the last three races.
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Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st July 2019, 10:46
I feel bad for Haas – they had an opportunity to do well in the midfield in recent years (especially 2018), but they blew their shot at it due to a variety of factors and luck.
Now in the face of a reinvigorated McLaren, a slightly-improving Renault, and a better-funded Racing Point, Haas are wilting, and I don’t see them regaining those highs. In future, they might aspire to be the best of the non-carmakers/”independents” like Toro Rosso, Racing Point, and Williams.
faulty (@faulty)
1st July 2019, 15:36
I feel bad for Magnussen, RoGro’s not driving that good this year.
Harry Coetzee (@harryc)
1st July 2019, 16:41
GS needs to stop swearing and politely ask his friends at the Scuderia for help….the Dallara chassis may be good enough for IndyCar bur F1 is another aero league. KMag and Grojean are trying hard but their common feedback is that the car development and tyre optimisation is poorly understood. That said Team Stroll is also battling to figure it all out.
Invisiblekid (@invisiblekid)
3rd July 2019, 23:04
I think that should be “no f^&%ing clue”
lomp
3rd July 2019, 23:21
One could say that they are at a Laas?