F1 News
"No one was brave enough to say 'this doesn't work'"
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner thinks his team's frustrating 2019 season started all the way back in Barcelona at winter testing, as he revealed the American side should've been "brave enough" to admit certain updates didn't work as well when first introduced.
Off the back of their best-ever year, Haas were expected to kick on in 2019 and challenge Renault again to be the best constructor in midfield, and they started the year off in good fashion as well. They were the quickest midfield team in Barcelona and in Australia, with Kevin Magnussen finishing sixth while Romain Grosjean had an unlucky retirement.
Things went downhill after that, however, with the team consistently doing well in qualifying but the VF19's pace falling off a cliff when in race trim. The drivers struggled massively to keep the tyres in the right temperature window and at the end of the year, Haas were ninth in the constructors' championship with just Williams behind them.
Speaking on what caused the team to have their worst-ever year in F1 after their best-ever year, Steiner explained how it all started in Barcelona.
“We have to be more critical of ourselves,” he told the Formula 1's official website.
“When we brought the upgrade to Barcelona, the drivers weren’t sure about it. No one was brave enough to say ‘this doesn't work’ because the car was quick.
"The data didn't look good, but the car was quick. So what do you believe? The good things, of course. It's the wrong thing to do.
"Barcelona is a special circuit, which our car works very well on. We pushed on and once we realised we were in the wrong direction, it was too late... If we had been brave in Barcelona, we wouldn't have been where we are now.”
2020 will have to be a bounce-back year for Haas, who have not confirmed their participation in F1 yet beyond this year.