The Haas F1 Team have well and truly found their mojo in 2022, after the team enjoyed their strongest weekend since 2018.
Mick Schumacher’s sixth-place finish, and Kevin Magnussen’s eighth-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix, was the American team’s most successful weekend since the same event in 2018.
Both Haas drivers have now finished in the points at back-to-back races, something which was unimaginable for the team in 2020 and 2021.
Haas appear to have a car which performs well at the majority of circuits, having been in or near the points at every round so far this season.
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With this in mind, team principal Guenther Steiner sees no reason as to why they can’t be in the points at every race.
“It’s very good, very good for the team,” he beamed whilst talking on the F1 Nation Podcast.
“We didn’t think we would finish this strong [in Austria]; we knew we were going good but this strong? It’s very good, especially after Silverstone – double points in the sprint and double points again [on Sunday], it’s fantastic.
“The performance in Spielberg was particularly good for us, which was of course a bit unexpected. But to be honest, I think we can score points in every race.”
Whilst Magnussen has been a consistent points finisher since returning to the sport, Schumacher has found the year much more challenging.
This all changed at the Canadian Grand Prix, where despite retiring due to a reliability issue, the German was running comfortably in the points.
The 23-year-old finally scored his first Formula 1 points at the British Grand Prix, having moved to sixth on the all-time list of number of races completed without a point.
He then backed up his performance at Silverstone with his best F1 weekend yet, after finishing P6 and being awarded ‘Driver of the Day’ at the Red Bull Ring.
Steiner believes that Schumacher’s more relaxed approach as of late has hugely benefited him, with his confidence now sky high.
“I saw a little change in Canada, I don’t know why. I just saw he was a little bit more relaxed about things,” he said.
“I think maybe more confident. From there onwards, he was just more at peace with himself, maybe not pushing too hard, just trying to get the best out of the car what he could.”
Social media was quick to compare Schumacher to his father, Michael Schumacher, after his fiery response to the Sprint race.
The Haas driver was furious with his team after last Saturday’s short race, where he felt the team hadn’t supported him.
Schumacher was stuck behind his team-mate virtually the entire Sprint; however, when the German asked the team to tell Magnussen to give him DRS to help defend, the team failed to do so.
This saw Schumacher lose the final points place to Sir Lewis Hamilton, which led to the German’s public outburst against the team.
Steiner explained on the podcast that Schumacher understood everything, once the German’s adrenaline had cooled-off.
“I think we managed it [on Saturday] for the team in the right way,” he explained.
“For him, it wasn’t right – we explained it to him why we did what we did and there was nothing sinister behind it. You saw [on Sunday] when Kevin had an issue with his engine, we let Mick go because we knew Kevin was not 100% on power so we let him go and he fought very well.”
The team have managed to somehow perform better as the season goes on, despite still having not fitted any upgrades to the VF22.
Originally, the American team were going to introduce their first batch at the Spanish Grand Prix; however, Steiner confirmed that they will now be introduced at the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of the month.
“Can you imagine if we had upgrades where we are?” he laughed.
“I always say upgrades are overrated, in my opinion, and we will bring some in Hungary – hopefully they will work as they should work. I don’t always follow what the others are doing, you need to go your own way, and we decided in Barcelona not to bring anything just to bring them because it wasn’t good enough.
“We developed more and hopefully, when we bring them in Hungary, they will work,” Steiner concluded.