In terms of success, Haas' second season depends very much on whether the observer is of the 'glass half full' or 'glass half empty' variety.

The American team once again finished eighth in the standings, with 47 points compared to the 29 scored in 2016, but once again it was essentially at the bottom of the midfield group.

"I think we were better than last year but we cannot show it," said team boss Guenther Steiner, according to ESPN, "we are in the same position with more points.

"Eight points more would make us heroes," he continued, referring to the gap to seventh placed Toro Rosso, which was itself just four points shy of Renault. "If you finish sixth in your second your then your heroes but we are eighth like last year, it's like we haven't made any progress... not enough.

"We have made progress and I think the competition, which I think is a good thing and is not meant negative, there is no really bad team anymore in here which is a good thing.

"It's very difficult and competitive. I am happy with the progress, but disappointed that we cannot show that we made it as we are still where we were last year in the championship."

Despite its close ties with Ferrari and Dallara, Haas has been slowly building its own aero team and Steiner believes this will prove significant in the team's third season.

"We started to get people in last year and there is more coming now," he said. "There are more as well as last year when we started we did not have enough people as we just started. Our aero development should be more better and consistent next year."

Asked if the aero department had witnessed the biggest growth area for the American outfit, he replied: "Yes, absolutely."