Guenther Steiner believes the notion of bringing technical upgrades to a Grand Prix weekend is often "overrated", adding that Haas will seek to understand their car fully before he approves any drastic changes. Steiner is keen for the team to continue to build their knowledge of the VF-22 machine, which finished inside the points during the opening two rounds of the new season with Kevin Magnussen at the wheel. His stance echoes that of engine suppliers Ferrari, which made clear during the pre-season that they would be sticking to and learning from their car design. Ferrari now lead the World Championship, while Haas have leapt from the back of the grid to the front of the midfield.
Steiner: Sometimes upgrades are overrated
While Haas rank as one of F1's more modest spenders, the outfit are still fighting to operate within the cost cap and must be selective of the upgrades they pursue. When asked whether Haas's VF-22 will be seen sporting any upgrades in the near future, Steiner said: "People like to be bringing upgrades, but if you bring upgrades for one, two or three points, it's not like, 'Oh, we bring upgrades!'. "The part looks different, but what does it actually do? That is important for me. "If you ask an aerodynamicist, they would bring to every Grand Prix a million dollars worth of updates for one point. That needs to be managed under the budget cap more than anything else. "Obviously, [on] upgrades, I'm not saying that nobody brings good ones, but I think they're a little bit overrated sometimes."
Haas staying calm amid VF-22 optimism
Steiner's upgrade plan stems from 2019, when the team pushed to improve their car on a regular basis but made little progress on their way to ninth in the standings. "As I said, I want to stay calm this year, intentionally, and not because we haven't got money," joked Steiner. "I want to get the package together so we can measure it properly, so that we make progress, so that we don't change the balance of the car, and then introduce [upgrades] – but not just going, 'We need upgrades left, right and centre', no. "We learned that in 2019 when we continued to bring upgrades and we ended up at the last race with the package of the first race. They weren't good upgrades! Normally, I get it wrong once and the second time I try not to do that mistake. "Let's focus on the car, understand it and then get the best out of what we've got."
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