Romain Grosjean reckons Toro Rosso's recent driver changes could help Haas leapfrog its rivals and gain a position in the Formula One constructors' championship before the end of 2017.

Haas currently occupies eighth place in the standings and is just one point behind Renault and six adrift of sixth-placed Toro Rosso with two races remaining this season. While Grosjean -- who has scored 28 points this year -- thinks overhauling Renault will prove a step too far, the Frenchman feels Haas can take advantage of Toro Rosso's recent switch to an inexperienced driver line-up consisting of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley.

"I think out of those teams, Renault is the faster one," Grosjean said. "They've got a really good car through to the end of the season. They've had a bit more of a difficult time in the races, which has allowed us to close the gap and keep them in sight.

"Toro Rosso is the one we can try to go for. They're not performing better than we are, and they've got less experience amongst their drivers, so that should help us. We're going to do everything we can to get those positions because it's very important for the team."

Haas is targeting at least one position gain in the constructors' championship before the end of 2017. Sutton Images

Haas is heading into the final two rounds of the year in Brazil and Abu Dhabi with the aim of improving on its eighth-place finish from 2016. Team principal Guenther Steiner said seventh place is the American outfit's minimum target, but added that given Renault's spate of engine-based reliability problems in Mexico, he does not feel claiming sixth place is beyond the realms of possibility.

"For sure, we try to grab at least one position," Steiner said. "It's very difficult because we're fighting with teams which are as good, if not better than us. Renault is a works team. They've got a lot of people working for them. They've made good progress over this year. They've had a few reliability issues lately, which played into our hands, and we took them.

"You cannot predict what is happening. Who would've predicted that we would come away with points in Mexico? If you'd told that to someone on Saturday, people would've laughed about it. Nothing is impossible to happen, everything is possible to happen. I don't know where it ends up, but I'm sure we'll put a fight up for it."