The Haas F1 Team continue to be the surprise package of the season, with the side coming into the French Grand Prix on the back of finishing sixth and eighth at the Austrian Grand Prix, despite still being yet to introduce a single upgrade.
The VF22 appears to be one of the most consistent cars on the grid this season, with the American side sitting seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, even though everyone around them has introduced plenty of upgrades.
Haas were initially set to introduce their first batch at the Spanish Grand Prix, but decided against it late-on.
Instead, Kevin Magnussen’s and Mick Schumacher’s only upgrades for the year are set to come at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which takes place after the French GP.
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This was confirmed by team principal Guenther Steiner, who explained that it’s the team’s “aim” for the VF22 to be upgraded at Hungary
“I need to check but that’s the aim and hopefully we will get what we expect from them,” Steiner said.
“I’m always careful with upgrades, whatever we do, so I’m not going to say how much we will go faster.
“But if we go faster that will help, and hopefully we can fight even harder.”
Haas have been extremely cautious about timing their upgrades right, with Steiner not wanting a repeat of 2019.
In 2019, Haas suffered from shocking reliability and often dropped to the back during races, despite qualifying strongly.
“It’s hard to create experience but we had it in ’19, and we learned,” said Steiner.
“We have learned this year.
“Everybody brought upgrades in Barcelona and we still finished sixth and eighth [in Austria], and we didn’t have any upgrades.
“So it’s a lot of publicity with these upgrades at times. I really want to show it’s not publicity but it’s lap time,” said the Haas boss.
Haas jumped above Scuderia AlphaTauri in the Constructors’ Championship at the Red Bull Ring; as a result, Haas sit in seventh-place and are also seven-points ahead of the Italian team.
Steiner is hopeful that the team can remain in seventh, with finishing the year any higher appearing somewhat unlikely.
Haas are 17-points behind the Alfa Romeo F1 Team, who sit in sixth-place.
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“We cannot say we will stay there. You need to try to improve to make sure you at least stay where you are. You need to aim high.
“Who would have thought? We were nine points behind [going into the race at the Red Bull Ring] and now we are seven points ahead of eighth.
“We will obviously try to get as many points as possible at every race and go as high as possible, but we are not going to say we will stay where we are and cruise around in seventh,” concluded the 57-year-old.