Haas admits second F1 year tougher than first, clarifies American driver stance

In 2016, the Haas F1 Team surprised many when it scored in its very first race in Australia courtesy Romain Grosjean. The American outfit went on to score in four more races to end up with 29 points and eighth in the constructors' standings.

For a team starting from the scratch, this was an unbelievable result especially after seeing what happened with HRT, Caterham and Manor. In its second year, they bettered to score 47 points but were still eighth in standings.

Despite scoring in 13 races (including two double points finish), owner Gene Haas believes the second season was a lot tougher than the first. "It was a learning year [in 2016]," said Haas in an interview on the team's website.

"Our first year, everything was new and everything has to be mentally digested about how do we go about racing in Formula One. In the second year, we understood a lot more in terms of what we were missing, and it became obvious midyear that our cars just weren’t fast enough to really be competitive.

"Some tracks they were quick, but other tracks they weren’t, and the question was, ‘Why did that occur?’ and ‘What are we going to do about that in the future?’, and that’s really a big pivot point for us going forward – how to solve those issues.

"In our first season, we were extremely lucky to do as well as we did because in the second year there were a lot of races that we just felt lost. You would think that in the second year we would’ve been better at that.

"But I felt that we were actually worse and it became more obvious about what we had to do to find what we were missing. If you don’t know how to solve some of these issues, you go out and you just have a really bad day, no matter what you do.

"And that’s really frustrating because you’re supposed to be out there doing your Free Practice 1 and 2 and you should get better, but it’s like you would go out there and do Free Practice 1 and 2 and the third one would be worse.

"And you’re going, ‘Wow, what are we missing here?, and we would ask, ‘Well, is it a driver issue?’, ‘Is it a car issue?’, ‘Is it a tire issue?’, and I think we’ve been able to narrow it down to determine it’s a car issue that effects the tires which makes the driver not able to perform," he explained.

Haas felt that while in its first year there were many other teams suffering, but their rate of development meant they were able to improve in 2017. In fact, the biggest issue Haas faced was balancing its performance with the Pirelli tyres.

"Nothing was easier [in 2017]," started Haas. "It was more difficult and I think it was more difficult from the standpoint that the competition was more intense. The first year it seemed like we had more teams that were having challenges.

"It seemed like in the second year a lot of those teams sorted out their problems and all of a sudden they got a lot faster. The spread between the top cars and the bottom cars when we first started was four to five seconds, and now it’s down to three seconds.

"The field is tightening up and everyone is getting better. The surprising fact is that these very, very small differences in the cars can completely change the characteristics of how the car drives. We’re not talking a lot. The one issue is tires.

"If you get the tires a few degrees out of their window, the tires can almost change completely, and then once they are out of their window, how do you get them back in their window? The bigger teams are very aware of those issues and they spend a huge amount of their effort and time making sure those tires are where they need to be."

For 2018, the goal is simple for Haas - it is to eliminate all the problems they faced in 2017. The biggest challenge though for Guenther Steiner and his team will be to be within half of a second of its engine partners, Ferrari.

"We want to solve these technical issues that are holding us back. Tires are the toughest issue we have because you have to keep the tires in a certain temperature range, but how you keep the tires in that temperature range is how you handle your downforce and your drag and how you handle sliding the tires.

"The tires are very sensitive to downforce, overheating and sliding, but in order to get the tires right you have to have the right chassis and the right aero. Without all of that working right, the cars become very difficult for the drivers and you can’t expect them to make up for a car that just doesn’t have the capability of holding the track.

"We identified our weak spots and Guenther and I had a good heart-to-heart talk on that one in Mexico City about what direction we were going to take and how we were going to improve. It’s no secret we use a lot of Ferrari equipment, so we’re using them as our baseline.

"We need to be within a half-second of the Ferraris in order for us to be competitive. We weren’t last year. I would say we were a second to a second-and-a-half slower than the Ferraris. Overall, we were maybe two seconds off the pole qualifiers, so we need to knock a second off that if we really want to be competitive.”

Interestingly, Haas thinks the three engine formula will work in a better way for the teams as it feels the reliability will only improve. He also adds that the Ferrari engine will not be very far off or behind the Mercedes and Renault performance wise.

"I think it’s like anything else – the more seasons you have with an engine package, the more reliable it’s going to become. I have no doubts they can do the season with three engines," said the American.

"Plus, there’s not going to be this tremendous need for upgrades because the engine horsepower has somewhat plateaued. They are getting about as much performance out of the current dimensional package as you can.

"I don’t think Mercedes or Renault is going to be that much farther ahead or behind Ferrari. I think they are all within a half-a-percent of one other. I think from a reliability standpoint, the Ferraris are excellent."

Aside the usual performance talks, one of the controversies the team got itself involved was the debate around American drivers in F1. The team received huge criticism when team principal Steiner made a comment regarding no American driver fit enough for F1 currently.

Haas clarified his and the team's stance. "I’m pretty sure I know where that talk came from. Guenther Steiner, our team principal, was asked about having an American driver in Formula One and, more specifically, with Haas F1 Team," he said.

"He responded by saying something to the effect that it wasn’t at the top of our priority list, and things kind of took off in a bunch of different directions as people made a bunch of assumptions.

"The fact is that we’re still learning here in Formula One, and bringing on a driver who needs to learn about Formula One probably isn’t the best thing for us or them. I felt like there were times last year where our drivers were better than our cars.

"So, we need to step up, but we know where we need to improve thanks in large part to the experience of our drivers. We’re not saying no to having an American driver, but the reality is that of the American drivers who have a superlicense and could actually compete in F1, they should really be with a team that can serve as their benchmark rather than the other way around.

"Now, we fully expect to eventually be in that position – ideally, sooner rather than later – but this is only our third year and we need to improve in a variety of areas, and Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen are playing a big part in that improvement because of their experience.

"They help us, rather quickly, determine if the course we’re taking is a proper one or if we need to re-think our approach. That experience is invaluable as we look to become a team that can eventually challenge for podiums instead of just points.

"This debate about American drivers really isn’t a debate. I believe in American drivers – my NASCAR team is full of them, and we’ve won a lot of races and championships. Obviously, the discipline is different, but sure, there are competent American drivers who can compete in Formula One.

"But we’re not ready for that yet, and with the limited amount of testing teams have, getting anyone up to speed who hasn’t already been a part of a development program would be hard. I think that’s the point Guenther was trying to make," he explained.

For now, Haas will carry on with its drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen as its main line-up, while for the development role, it is set to announce and keep American Santino Ferrucci and Indian Arjun Maini.

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