Background | Is a quick turnaround for the troubled Haas realistic?

Guenther Steiner - Haas F1's team boss - hardly used any words in his analysis after the Italian Grand Prix, but in this case, he said everything with that: "There’s not a lot to say except the car is just not fast enough. You always try to do your best, but the car has no performance and that’s where you end up when you cannot compete.”

Haas was the only team in Monza to be lapped by race winner Max Verstappen, finishing with Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in spots 17 and 18. They were the last drivers to finish. Undoubtedly, Steiner cursed internally. Indeed, for the umpteenth time this season, his team was unable to move forward during a Grand Prix. The team boss also realises that Haas' performance is becoming increasingly dire.

Are the updates working?

At Zandvoort, Haas introduced a much-needed package of updates, but crashes - which meant damage to the new wings - meant their impact was barely measurable. At the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday, the Americans never stood a serious chance of scoring points and they knew that the high-speed Monza circuit would be incomparable to Zandvoort.

However, Steiner will also have seen that Ferrari - the supplier of the power units to Haas - did perform well in Italy with their own cars, and they were able to keep up with Red Bull Racing for a long time, thanks in particular to their top speed. Alfa Romeo, a team that had been without points for weeks, also finished in the top 10; also with a Ferrari power unit in the back of the car. In other words, the fact that Haas fell through the lower limit at Monza was not (this time) down to the quality of the Ferrari engine.

Steiner seeks speed

For virtually the whole season, Haas has been experiencing horrendously bad Sundays. Only three Grand Prix finished in the points (Magnussen was tenth twice, Hulkenberg seven once), while the team is regularly reasonably competitive over one lap in qualifying. But the decline over the weekend has been huge. "What we need to find is pace, I think we can get consistency in the car pretty easily but we need pace and we’ll keep working on it," Steiner said ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

Will that objective still be achieved this season? Realistically, the answer to that question is 'no'. The main problem - and there are many - is that the VF-23 eats tyres. Before barely a few laps are behind them, the Haas cars' tyres are often worn out. Then it is difficult to parry attacks from competitors, let alone be the hunter yourself. Steiner has already indicated several times that the team is looking for solutions to reduce tyre wear. Only - the American admitted ruefully - it is unknown what exactly is causing the problem. Then, of course, it is difficult to find a solution.

Leadership faces tough choices

Haas has already tried a wide variety of things this season, but the distance to the mid-race is still growing by the week. There is a structural problem in the VF-23 that has not been fixed one, two, three. Haas would be wise to shift its focus to a new concept car for 2024. This season is lost anyway. When the gaze then turns to the future, key people within the team should also take a good look in the mirror. Haas has been competing in Formula 1 for years without making significant progress. Would the current decision-makers - including Steiner - really be able to turn things around in the relatively short term and with the limited budget? Perhaps it is time to make firm decisions internally about the direction to be taken, otherwise, it is easy to imagine that '24 will be another difficult year full of frustrations.