Steiner sees Haas equal 2016 effort

Drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished 11th and 13th, respectively for the Banbury team in Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Sunday at Yas Marina Circuit.

Both drivers rallied in the 55-lap race around the 21-turn track, with Grosjean starting 16th and Magnussen recovering from a first-lap spin that put him last in the 20-car field.

Haas ends the season with a respectable eighth-place finish in the F1 Constructors’ Championship, outpacing McLaren in ninth and Sauber in tenth. The 47 points Haas earned in 2017 are 18 more than in its debut 2016 season.

Grosjean wraps the year up 13th in the F1 Drivers’ Championship with 28 points and Magnussen is 14th with 15 points.

Steiner said: “We didn’t gain a position but still, we finished eighth like last year. With a little bit more we could’ve finished sixth, but ‘if’ and ‘when’, it didn’t happen.

“We fought to the end and we provided a lot of the race action, I think for the sport, we did well. We’re already looking forward to next season.”

Grosjean said: “I pushed really hard, I tried my best. I think it was a superb drive but it just wasn’t good enough to get in the points.

“I tried everything I could. With [Lance] Stroll it was a good battle, he just had a lot of top speed and a lot of straight-line power. It was very difficult to overtake him and he was defending a lot early on.

“Anyway, after I passed him I could open up the gap and push. We had a good race but we have our ideas where to work on the car for next year.

“It’s been a good year in general, and only our second in Formula One. We’ve learned a lot and know where to improve for our future.”

Magnussen added: “Obviously, I’m a bit disappointed, it’s frustrating to get so close to seventh in the constructors championship and not get it.

“We just weren’t strong enough to do it but we’ll come back stronger next year. We can take a step forward, we’ve got a baseline now that we can work on over the winter.

“We know the weakness of the car and we want to improve it by a big margin for next year. We’ll see how we go. I think we can do it.”