Haas chasing ‘miracles’ to catch Renault for P4

Haas Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen and team chief Günther Steiner have both cast doubt on its chances of catching Renault for fourth place in the constructors’ championship before the end of the season.

Following the FIA’s decision to uphold Romain Grosjean’s disqualification from September’s Italian Grand Prix last week, Haas was left 30 points behind Renault in the fight for P4 in the teams’ standings with two races remaining this year.

The two teams have fought closely to lead the midfield runners all year long, with Steiner saying on Thursday that Renault’s protest of Grosjean’s car at Monza proved how “desperate” it is.

However, the Haas team chief did concede it would now be very difficult for Haas to overcome the 30-point margin between the two teams.

“We all know that F1 is a very difficult place to race. Not everything is about racing,” Steiner said.

“I think our team is doing a good job, and that is why we’re fighting for fourth. It’s very difficult now at this moment in time, but maybe miracles happen.”

Haas will nevertheless toast its best season to date in F1 at the end of the year, having scored close to double the points tally it achieved last year.

Kevin Magnussen has spearheaded the team’s charge in 2018, outscoring teammate Grosjean by 22 points. While he agreed with Steiner’s summation that Haas would struggle to now catch Renault, he felt there were still plenty of positives to take from the year.

“It has been a pretty good year, I think we’ve shown that we are making progress with the team year by year. I think our aim should be to keep that up in the next seasons,” Magnussen said.

“I think this year, it probably looks like we’re going to finish fifth in the constructors’ unless we get some very good weekends the next two weekends. But that leaves us at least one realistic target for next year, to take another step forward.

“I think this year we’ve had a very fast car. We haven’t always scored the points that we perhaps should have for different reasons.

“But I think the positive thing is that we can go into next season and know that we can do better, because the performance is there."