Haas boss Guenther Steiner says the team are unsure about what is causing their wild Formula 1 performance fluctuations, but that they are aware of a "pattern" with Ferrari. As a Ferrari customer squad, Haas take many parts of their car from the Scuderia – which, as RacingNews365.com revealed earlier this year, is subject to strict FIA and in-house checks to avoid transfer of information between the two teams. In 2023, Haas' season has been punctuated with strong qualifying results such as Nico Hulkenberg's second in Canada (although he would start fifth due to a penalty) and Kevin Magnussen's fourth in Miami. However, the VF-23 has proved a troublesome machine come Sundays, with race pace and consistency over stints a worry. They are traits roughly similar to what Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have experienced in the Ferrari. While acknowledging the pattern, Steiner says Haas must look at "the bigger picture" to get to the root cause of the differences between qualifying and the race.
Steiner on Haas problems
"It seems to be a parallel, obviously in different regions because they are starting further up front, and the less dirty air you have, the easier it is," Steiner told media, including RacingNews365.com. "But they fall back in the races on certain racetracks, so it seems there is a little bit of a pattern with them. "If I would have the answer, we would be working on it, but we used to say it was the wind tunnel, and things like this, you need to look at the bigger picture. "I'm not saying that this is it, but as I said, you look at everything. Could it be the suspension? Yes, but we need to know what it is if it is the suspension. "I cannot just go to Ferrari and say: 'It is your fault, we have got the problems and you need to solve it'. It is not as easy as this. "You need to try to find out where the problem comes from, we need to understand properly because coming to the conclusion that it is the same problem as Ferrari have got."
Hulkenberg's rethink
Haas' familiar problems struck in the Canadian GP as Hulkenberg was unable to convert his fifth on the grid into points, coming home 15th. The German says a "rethink" must be in the team's plans if the trends continue. "We've had one-third of the season now, and it's been a little bit of a trend – some weekends more, some weekends less," he explained. "If we can't fix it as the year goes on, we have to have a rethink with bigger things when it comes to the suspension stuff and design the suspension – but we are not there yet. "We're still in a period where we try to explore different set-up windows with the car to see if that helps."
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