28/02/2023
NEWS STORY
Reflecting on the "best ever" test, Haas boss, Guenther Steiner admits that he is clueless in terms of the midfield pecking order.
What a difference a year makes.
This time a year ago Haas left the opening pre-season test with just 160 laps under its belt - compared to Ferrari's 439 - and just a few days later, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, found itself without a title sponsor and a driver.
In fact, pre-season tests have often proved problematic for Haas - as have title sponsors - having previously encountered freight issues and pretty much everything else.
This year, with a new title sponsor (fingers crossed) a proven driver line-up and an almost trouble-free three days of running, Steiner can hardly believe it.
"I think it's the best one in Formula One ever," said the Italian. "We've seen how many red flags? Three? Everybody doing the laps... if you go to the lap count of previous season, the first test, this never happened before in my opinion.
"I'm so amazed about it," he continued. "Five years ago every two... three hours there was a red flag. Now we're all doing the laps... just boom, boom, boom."
When it was pointed out that his own team - which had the fourth highest mileage of this year's test - hasn't suffered any of the dramas of previous years, Steiner laughed, and replied: "Almost boring, huh!
"I'm happy when we are fast," he continued. "And I'm not happy still, because there's always something. But you're right, this year everything was a lot smoother."
Reflecting on last year, he said: "We had a little chat a few days ago, and said think about what we had to do last year at this time. It was like, how the hell do we get out of this hole? Because we kept on falling into holes. "You think back now, I think how we handled it I still wouldn't do anything different."
In addition to a respectable lap count, the team also has Magnussen seventh on the overall timesheets, the Dane actually fifth fastest on the C4s.
However, Steiner isn't taking anything for granted.
"You ask me where anybody is in the midfield, I don't know. I have no clue," he admitted. "I think this year some cars will do better on certain tracks, some on others, fast and slow tracks and things like this, because it's so close together.
"That's my feeling on it. My guys ask me and I don't really know where we are."