Steiner: Haas need to stop mechanical failures

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has ordered his squad to “get rid of these failures” after its VF-19 stopped three times on track on day three of the opening formula 1 pre-season test.

The US squad confirmed two of its three track breakdowns were caused by an ignition-coil problem, once with development driver Pietro Fittipaldi in the car and the other with Romain Grosjean in action, before a third stop inside the final five minutes of track action suspected to be down to a low fuel run test.

While Steiner accepts these issues are important to iron out during pre-season testing he remains frustrated at the loss of vital track time despite still seeing his team complete 117 laps on day three between Fittipaldi and Grosjean.

“[Today] saw us with a few too many stops out on the track,” Steiner said. “We need to get rid of these failures.

“We got a good amount of mileage in at the end of the day though. We keep on learning, but we want to fast-track the process to get us ready for the Australian Grand Prix.”

“It’s not been a bad day to be fair,” Grosjean added. “Yes, we came back a couple of times on the flatbed truck having had to stop the car on track, but that’s part of testing, it’s finding out what the limitations are, and what we can do better on the car.

“It’s not ideal, and we’d like to do more mileage, but the more we drive, the more we find the car is getting better. The feeling in the car is good.

“Positive steps have been made since I ran on Monday, and I was already happy then, I’m even happier now. We’re getting there. I’m quite pleased with all the work that’s been done.”

Steiner also gave credit to Fittipaldi for his efforts in the morning session, having also filled in for Kevin Magnussen at the end of yesterday’s track running when the Danish driver was forced out with a seat fit issue, and was impressed by the Brazilian’s pace.

“It was a pretty good morning of testing for Pietro [Fittipaldi], he got a lot of laps in,” he said. “We had a small issue, but he got going again and carried on with our program. He did a good job.

“It’s quite amazing as he comes into this environment, with everyone watching, and delivers a mature performance in testing. Our thanks go to him for the job he’s done.”