After the Belgian Grand Prix, Formula 1 will go on a summer break. Ahead of the Spa round, Haas team boss Gunther Steiner assessed the first half of the season and said engineers would continue to upgrade the VF-23.
Q: In Belgium the last race before the summer break will be held. How do you rate the team’s results in the first half of the season?
Gunter Steiner: We started the season well again, but then rolled back, because we don’t get such opportunities as other teams. Positive was the arrival of Niko Hulkenberg, who helped us enormously. He works hard to keep the team motivated and moving forward. Nico fitted in fantastically with the team.
Among other positive moments we can note our pit stops. We have a lot of confidence in its implementation, but we will keep our fingers crossed that this will continue in the future.
The team can’t show their best side because the car has no race pace due to the rubber degradation – we don’t earn any points because of this.
Q: Are you going to further refine the VF-23 in the second half of the season or are you moving to a 2024 car?
Gunter Steiner: In Hungary, the result seemed worse than it actually was, because we were not that far from our rivals, but we were still behind. And while we didn’t get fantastic results, the team confirmed that they are going in the right direction.
It’s hard to say what is the reason for our little progress in Hungary – with new products or track features. When the combat is this fierce, it’s hard to understand exactly whether the new items work or not. Our updates were small, but we got exactly what we wanted from them, but this was not enough.
The innovations we are preparing for the current car can be used next year, so we will continue to improve the VF-23 to better understand the issues and see areas that need additional attention to improve the 2024 car. At the moment we are working on two machines in parallel, but we do not yet know when we will fully switch to the 2024 project.
Q: How do you plan to spend your summer vacation?
Gunter Steiner: I will spend a few days on the beach and the rest of the time I will relax with my family – for me this is the best way to relax and recharge my batteries. It is very important that each of us has the strength to finish the season, which promises to be difficult. Everyone in Formula 1 is not easy, so if you have time to relax, you should.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
