Guenther Steiner says Haas is not likely to have any updates for F1 Spanish GP as they are to wait a bit, as Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher add their views.
Having had a solid start to their 2022 F1 campaign, Haas is likely to push their upgrades further and continue with the current package to extract as much as they can. Spanish GP is usually where most bring their updates but Steiner says it won’t be the case.
In fact, they are planning for one in the next four or five races which is likely around the races in Britain and or Austria. “As you say, normally Spain is the obvious place to bring upgrades and I think quite a few teams are planning them,” said Steiner.
“I don’t know how much difference they will make on each car and what they will bring. We have decided to wait a little bit longer with upgrades as I still think we have performance in the car without them which we have to get on the track, so sometimes we achieve it, sometimes we don’t.
“We have a good upgrades package in about four or five races coming, so I’m confident about that and what the other ones are bringing, as of right now I don’t know,” summed up Steiner. The drivers, though, think that their F1 rivals may catch up to them with the updates they may bring while Haas waits for their chance.
“I think there’s probably a good chance that the competitive order is going to change around a little bit this year,” said Kevin Magnussen. “We’ve seen Mercedes out of shape, sometimes Alfa Romeo has been up there almost with podium pace and other times we’ve been up there, so the competition is very tight.
“And I think it’s going to make for an interesting season. It’s not fun if you know that you can’t be competitive and this time there is no way to say that you can’t be competitive, everyone has a chance. I think it’s way more interesting and a lot more fun – I’m certainly enjoying my time,” summed up Magnussen.
At the same time, Schumacher added: “I’m sure we’ve already seen quite a few changes, teams are still very close together and that’s what we want to see, that’s what this whole change was about in the end. I think we’ve managed to get there and hopefully by the end of the season the spread isn’t going to be bigger but actually smaller, and teams still fight heavily between each other and that the midfield pack catches up to the top two teams, which are Ferrari and Red Bull at the moment, that the gap gets smaller and we’re able to fight with them.
“The pace that we had at the end of the race in Imola definitely showed that we were close to them on one lap pace, but race pace is so different when comparing the midfield and top teams, it will be interesting but exciting times ahead.”