Haas boss admits concern about reliability of Ferrari engine

Both Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen suffered failures in the back of their Haas cars during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner insists that he believes Ferrari are working hard to figure out why the American side suffered two reliability failures in Monaco.

Mick Schumacher ground to a halt, blocking the entrance to the pit lane after an MGU-K issue caused an “overload” in the gearbox, and Kevin Magnussen would then retire from the race after a water leak in the ERS system.

To add insult to injury, Schumacher would later crash out of the race in the Principality, making it the fourth time this season that Haas have walked away from a race with no points.

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Reliability has started to become a bit more of a concern for Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas’ retirement in Saudi Arabia was down to overheating in the Alfa Romeo, so it still looked positive throughout the opening five rounds of the year.

Since Miami though, Schumacher and Magnussen have run into trouble, while works driver Charles Leclerc and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu suffered similar failures in Spain.

Asa result, Steiner is aware that the worries are “a little bit bigger” from a reliability standpoint than they were before.

“Obviously we had some issues, mainly in Monte Carlo – before we didn’t have any big issue with it – but Monte Carlo, there were issues for us and Alfa [Romeo], so hopefully they stop,” he said.

“But you’re always concerned about this because Kevin had a good start, everything was going to plan.”

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“Obviously, we couldn’t have gone up to sixth or seventh, but at least ninth, maybe he could have made it. 

“So, it’s always disappointing when you then have to stop, so that now is as well in there that there is concerns – they are always there – but after Monte Carlo they became a little bit bigger.”

The Italian, however, assured that the Ferrari engineers have been looking in detail at what exactly caused the issues, and are working hard to ensure they do not recur.

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“They’re still looking into it with the details, it’s their job to do it,” explained Steiner.

“Maybe I never get the full story anyway but I know they take it seriously.

“They will look into it and try to make sure as possible that it doesn’t happen again.”

Haas sit eighth in the Constructors’ Championship by virtue of the 15 points that Magnussen has scored so far this year.