Steiner proud as Haas return to equal their best ever finish

The Banbury team equaled its best result in its still young history competing in the FIA Formula One World Championship when Kevin Magnussen finished fifth in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Both drivers gained a place on their starting positions with team-mate Romain Grosjean finished one place better than he started in 16th at Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.

The resulting ten points from Magnussen’s fine effort placed Haas seventh in the constructor standings after two races, eight points ahead of eighth-place Sauber and only two points behind sixth-place Toro Rosso.

Magnussen and Grosjean were thwarted in possible top ten finishes in Australia Grand Prix because of pit-lane issues so Steiner was happy to see the team get back on track in Bahrain.

Steiner said: “I’m pretty happy with fifth place. There were maybe a few points lost with Romain, who was going strong from 16th up to tenth but then he needed an additional pit stop to clear off some parts of the car which had come loose.

“We have to investigate that to see if he went off or hit something at the start. All in all, it’s been a good weekend, the pit stops were good, we had five in the race and they were all good.

“I think the guys have recovered and I’m very proud of them. They can be proud of themselves for what they’ve achieved this weekend.

“Coming back from two failed pit stops at the last race in Australia to take a fifth-place finish without a problem, it’s fantastic.”

Magnussen said: “It’s really good to get ten points and get our championship started. I’m really proud of the team, especially the guys on the pit stops.

“They had a tough time between Australia and here, they kept their heads and got back to basics. They did what they do best and delivered.”

Grosjean added: “It was always going to be difficult starting from the back of the grid. I didn’t really have a good first lap but after that I came back through the field quite nicely.

“If I hadn’t lost my barge-board I’d have finished potentially seventh or eighth. That was a problem, losing parts as we’re just running on track.

“On those two laps the car was absolutely undriveable. We had to pit to remove the part, so that was the end of the story.”

Now its on to the Shanghai International Circuit for the Chinese Grand Prix.