Steiner: Haas is focused on the track not the call

The Frenchman finished 6th at Monza before being disqualified for a floor that did not comply with technical regulations, the result of a complaint made by Renault in the wake of the Italian race.

Haas currently occupies 5th place in the Manufacturers' Championship, 11 points behind the Diamond. If the appeal filed were to be victorious on November 1, the US structure would recover 10 units while Renault would lose two. Carlos Sainz had in fact gone from 9th to 8th place after the downgrading of Grosjean. 

Asked in the Suzuka paddock about the state of mind and atmosphere within Haas, Guenther Steiner replied that the objective was to beat Renault whatever the outcome on the legal ground.

« The case has no impact on the team, explained the Italian manager. We have a group of 4 or 5 people working on the file. They are the ones who filled out all the necessary paperwork to appeal. 

The racing team has no power in this area. We basically told them : 'There's no point in you guys being involved, don't see it as disrespectful but don't waste your energy on it'. 

We had a road map with checkpoints that we respected. We will meet again soon with the people in charge of the appeal to review everything before the hearing. Let's focus on what we can control, namely performance on the track and not the court ». 

Steiner also added that Haas was still going to make some small developments to improve a VF-18 which overall showed itself to be the 4th best car of the 2018 field in terms of pure performance.