Haas team principal Guenther Steiner is aiming for his team to score points at every race for the rest of the season despite the compact nature of the midfield.
After scoring their fifth consecutive points finish in Baku, Steiner is confident that his outfit has what it takes to fight with the established midfield pack, but admits time is still needed to find further improvements.
“The game has become more difficult,” Steiner said. “The midfield is much more compact this year. Therefore, it’s difficult to get in the points. We’ve got more points-scoring races, but less points. It is tough, but I think we’ve shown we’ve made progress as a team and that we are more consistent.
“Look at our pit stops, for example. They’re normally pretty good. It takes time and you cannot buy time. You just need to give yourself time to fix problems and keep on growing. As long as we’re showing improvement, I think we’re doing well.”
The 52-year-old also believes the team is proving itself against the promises made prior to their entry into Formula 1, scoring more points and battling against the already established teams like Williams, Force India and Renault.
“The teams that are there – they’ve been around for decades,” he added. “The only thing we can compare ourselves with are the teams that are no longer there – the new startups from around 2010.
“All of those teams together, they scored a lot less points than we have in not even one-and-a-half seasons. I think we can show what we promised. We want to be a player, we want to be successful, but we also know our limitations. All in all, we’ve done a good job.”
