Kevin Magnussen moved Haas to seventh in qualifying on Saturday, and he climbed back to fifth in the race following the late retirements of the Red Bull drivers, giving the American team its best result since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix.
It was the first time Haas had finished in the points zone since the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, ending two very difficult seasons in which the team struggled against its own performance.
Referring to how he assessed Haas ‘ result at the Bahrain Grand Prix, team principal Steiner said: “I don’t want to understand it, I want to live the dream!”
“[Kevin] knew he had a good car. We realized that in qualifying. But the longest run we’d done so far was 18 laps. So to do 57 was quite an achievement, everything went really well and The team didn’t do anything wrong. Everything was very well prepared.”
“Everyone did their job and made the right decisions at the right time. So it was a very good weekend overall,” added the Italian.
Points scored by Magnussen moved Haas into third place in the constructors’ championship after the first race of the year, behind only Ferrari and Mercedes, the teams that held the top four positions in the race.
“I don’t think that will last for long,” admitted a smiling Steiner . “But anyway, we’ll enjoy the dream.”
Haas opted not to develop their car for the 2021 season, focusing entirely on the new technical regulations for 2022. This decision made last year a transitional season for the team in which they failed to score any points.
Steiner said Magnussen ‘s fifth-place finish was one of the most important results for Haas since the team joined the Formula 1 grid in 2016.
“The last two years we had to fight to get ahead, now we’re back,” Steiner said.
“It’s something special, because everyone had lost confidence in a very short period of time. I mean, in 2018 we were fifth and everything was fine, but then in 2019, with a bad car, people completely lost confidence. They said that the team was for sale and many other things, but we are still here and now we are back”.
Steiner said he was 100% confident that Magnussen’s fifth place would not be Haas’s last chance to fight for points this season, with the belief that they will be able to maintain their good form for the rest of the campaign.
“Alfa Romeo is also very strong, so we can’t take it easy now that we are where we are. We need to work and continue to improve the car, with updates later in the year. That is what we are working on. I am quite sure that we will continue adding points”, concluded the one from Haas .
