Haas focused on “very troubling” 2019 F1 tyre inconsistencies

Guenther Steiner says Haas remains focused on solving the “very troubling” inconsistencies it has suffered with Formula 1’s 2019 tyres so far this season.

Tyre troubles have been a recurring theme of the American’s squad season and the issues resurfaced during the Canadian Grand Prix as the team failed to score points for the fourth time this year as it slipped to eighth in the constructors’ championship.

“We’re obviously behind in points which we should have scored, but for one or another reason we didn’t get them,” Steiner said ahead of this weekend’s French Grand Prix.

“We weren’t there at the right time to pick them up. What we have to do now is roll our sleeves up and work even harder to try to get some of the points back that we lost in the first-third of the season.

“The upgrades performed very well,” he added. “Everything went to plan there. We don’t have an issue with the pace of the car, we just need to understand the tyres better.

“We’ll bring on more developments for the rest of the season. They won’t be as big as the Barcelona upgrade package, but we’ve got quite a few smaller ones coming.”

Asked if there is a specific area of development Haas is working on aside from tyre performance, Steiner replied: “No, that’s a job big enough trying to understand the tyres this year or trying to get them to work consistently.

“It seems to be very troubling, especially for us, so there’s nothing else we’re targeting. The normal targets are obviously more downforce – which is better, being more efficient is better – but our biggest focus is on the tyres.”

Speaking directly after the race in Canada, Steiner said the inconsistencies his side has faced with tyres so far this season has felt like a “rollercoaster”.

“They are for us so inconsistent and I think it’s in general,” Steiner explained. “One car is very quick, and the next race he is nowhere.

“It seems like it’s all over the board. When you’re on a high, you think you’ve figured it out, and then you’re back to reality. It’s such a rollercoaster.

“If you look at Monte Carlo, in qualifying you’re not even two tenths off a Ferrari. [In Canada], how many seconds we were off it? Must be something in there. Not only the car, it’s the tyres. Ferrari didn’t have a bad car in Monte Carlo. Maybe they didn’t get the tyres to work there and we did. It’s very sporadic what is happening.

“The general level of confidence is in theory we should be OK but can I tell you with knowledge we are ok? No. Because we don’t know when they work and when they don’t work.

“It’s just inconsistency and it doesn’t make me happier, that other people do not understand it - it makes it more difficult.”