F1 News: Haas Chief Delivers Bad News Over VF-23 Performance - "Something Is Wrong"
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has delivered some bad news to fans admitting that they don't fully understand what is going wrong with the VF-23.
The American team has encountered some difficulties so far this season and is currently sitting in eighth position in the constructors' standings with eleven points, the same amount as Williams in seventh.
Speaking to the media, Steiner explained that some of the issues are due to "running too high with the temperatures" but they realise there could be more issues than just that. He commented:
"I think some of it we understand, not completely I would say. I'm totally honest, we understand some of it because we are running too high with the temperatures, but there could be something else, but you need to always fix things you know, and then you find the next one."
Steiner didn't want to point blame anywhere, confirming that any mistakes were not intentional and they just need to learn what is going wrong and how to move on from it.
He continued:
"If it is wrong, they didn't make it intentionally wrong, they thought it was right. If you see how other people can manage the tyres, at some stage you need to admit it's wrong, because we get the same tyres, we've got the same wheels now as well, like in the old days you had different rims as well.
"Now everybody's got the same wheels and the same tyres, so there must be something wrong with the car. Obviously, admission is the first step of getting better."
Haas is also heading into contract discussions with both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg's current contracts coming to an end this year. It has been rumoured that the team is set on keeping Hulkenberg but has not decided on Magnussen yet. Hulkenberg is currently in fourteenth position in the drivers' standings with 9 points compared to Magnussen in eighteenth position with just 2 points. Nothing has been confirmed on either contract yet.