With Haas once again fighting for points in the midfield, questions have begun to arise regarding Mick Schumacher’s lack of points thus far in comparison to teammate, the returning favourite, Kevin Magnussen.

Schumacher has had a difficult start to the season, missing the second race following his high speed crash during qualifying in Jeddah as well as mistakes in Imola last time out. Steiner however was quick to put his faith in his driver, saying he just needs a “perfect weekend” in order to deliver a points finish.

“You’re right, if you miss a little bit, you’re out of the points at the moment because the midfield is very, very close together,” Steiner said.

“We had Kevin in the points in all of the races except one. So I think Mick will get there but he needs a perfect weekend, otherwise you’re not ending up in points this year, because the competition is so intense in the midfield.”

Steiner also believes that once Schumacher has scored a points finish, it will relieve some pressure and allow the young German to perform more consistently.

“We try as much as we can to help Mick [Schumacher] to score these points and I think also once he scores his first points, normally things get easier because you have overcome a hurdle. And it motivates you to get on to better things,”

It was also widely publicised earlier in the year that Haas were struggling with a parts shortage particularly following Schumacher’s incident in Saudi Arabia. Steiner however insists the team is in good shape now.

“We are pretty good. We just got in, I wouldn't say even a bind, after the [Jeddah] accident. We didn’t want to get in a bind. That's why we didn’t start the race so we wouldn’t compromise Australia.

“We are pretty good, you always try to be efficient, especially with the budget cap. Not to have too many spares because they go against the budget cap, so you can’t spend it on anything else.

When asked how Schumacher was settling into and understanding the new car, Steiner claims having Magnussen on board should make it slightly easier as he has a wealth of Formula 1 experience.

“I think with Kevin [Magnussen] there now it should make it a little bit easier because you've got a reference.

“I think, as I said, it’s so close together, this midfield, so every little thing that is not perfect keeps you out of the points.”

Steiner was also asked about the team's apparent drop off in pace on Sunday compared to Saturday, an issue which plagued the team in 2019. The Haas boss admits it is likely issues with the tyres which is causing their disparity, but also pointed out their performance in Bahrain was consistent through Saturday and Sunday.

“I would think [the tyres]. A little bit of setup work. We need to get a little bit better but because on Friday in Imola it was in the rain, so you cannot jump to that conclusion because it was different outside circumstances.

“I think we will get there. In Bahrain our race pace was actually equal to our qualifying pace. We were seventh and then finished fifth obviously because two Red Bull’s were out. But you know, there is some things we always can get better at.”