F1 | Haas, Steiner: "It' s a good thing for the championship to have the sprint races"
Guenther Steiner explained that, despite the issues Haas has faced in Australia, the team is positive about the car's performance. Then he added that he's looking forward to race with the new "sprint" format, as Magnussen and Schumacher did.
During the Australian weekend at the Albert Park circuit, in Melbourne, Haas appeared a long way from the surprising car that had been able to collect 12 points in the first two races of the 2022 season.
With the VF-22, Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher did not go beyond the eighth row in qualifying and finished the Grand Prix far from the points,in thirteenth and fourteenth position, dubbed by the winner Charles Leclerc.
"The whole weekend was very challenging, starting with little issues on Mick's car and Kevin not being on top form because he didn't feel well,” Haas’ Team Principal, Guenther Steiner said in the team's weekend preview.
“Nevertheless, with all these hinderances we still got close to points. In the race we didn't get lucky with the safety cars which could've helped our strategy but we put Australia behind us. Not as a negative, but it's a very competitive championship this year and you need to be perfect to get points.”
“What I take to Imola is that the car is still performing, and we will perform as we go on. I hope we get to Imola having fewer unfortunate instances."
Here’s how it finished in Melbourne 🇦🇺🏁
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) April 10, 2022
The safety cars landed at the wrong times for us as we finished just out of the points #HaasF1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/qSghkJpLbV
Speaking of Imola, Steiner then focused on the particular weekend that Formula 1 will face, in which there will be only one free practice session. The Italian circuit will be the first, this season, to host the Sprint Race format. On Friday afternoon the Sprint Qualifying will take place, which will decide the starting grid for the Sprint Race on Saturday, that will give us the starting order in view of the actual race on Sunday.
"It will be a challenging weekend, because we've only got one free practice session to find a good set-up,” Steiner stated.
“With the difficulties of these cars and the inexperience we have got with it, it won't be easy but it's the same for everybody and who is better prepared will have a better car so we will be trying our best like everybody else.
“I think it is a good thing for the championship to have these sprint races and I really look forward to it."
Kevin Magnussen also commented on the Sprint Race, the first of his career, as it is a format first introduced last year, in the Interlagos, Silverstone and Monza GPs.
"I think it's good that they've added points for finishing eighth and higher because there's a pay bonus for points so I'm going to go all out, and the racing is going to be great!” the Danish driver said.
“I think it's interesting as last year sometimes it was a little less exciting as people were more conservative because there wasn't as much at stake. Now that there are points, I think we'll see more tough racing, so I'm looking forward to it."
How does #F1Sprint work?
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 18, 2022
Let @lawrobarretto be your guide 👀#ImolaGP https://t.co/ehH1neuxeb
"I think Imola is always a nice track to go to – I enjoy it a lot. I've driven around it quite a bit and I'm really excited to get there with these nice, new cars and hopefully be able to do well," Mick Schumacher said.
"With our car I think it's actually quite alright [the sprint format], we should be able to manage to put everything together quite soon in the weekend. We have a good idea, we don't need to two huge changes so hopefully we'll be right in there and be able to have a good weekend," he concluded.
