The entire Haas team and its fans shouldn’t get carried away by the team’s dream debut at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix a week previously, as team principal Guenther Steiner admits they won’t finish so high up every weekend.
Romain Grosjean’s sixth-place finish handed the team eight points, putting them fifth in the championship standings, leading the Frenchman to rank their debut in the same category as a race win.
Steiner has however warned the team to manage their expectations for the coming races as, although they believe their car is competitive, fighting for sixth won’t happen often.
“We showed a good race speed and we are ready to go racing [again],” he said. “We got there. Now the biggest task is to replicate this, which won’t be easy, but for sure we will be trying again.
“I think our plan is working, but we won’t finish sixth every weekend, so we need to be careful with our expectations.”
Steiner says he is fully aware that difficult times will come, but believes if the team continues doing what it has done, then Melbourne’s result won’t be a one-off.
“I think we showed that you can start a new team and end up in the midfield. We were not last in Australia, which was one of our goals, and I don’t think we will be last this year. How far we’ve come is a sign that our plan is working.
“We are not being arrogant about our early success and we will have our races where we will underperform. Our sixth-place finish in Australia keeps the team going, working very hard and trying to do the best possible job we can. If we continue to do what we did in Melbourne, good results will come.”