Haas team principal Guenther Steiner admits they reacted too slowly after the upgrade they introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix did not produce the gains they hoped for.

The new aerodynamic package remained on the car for several races until the team reintroduced its original specification on Romain Grosjean’s car at the Austrian Grand Prix. This gave more positive results, and the team moved away from its new aerodynamic package over the following races.

Steiner said the team should have paid more attention to the feedback from their drivers, who raised concerns over the Spanish GP upgrade.

“One thing I would do [differently] is to just do something different after we introduced the upgrade in Barcelona,” he said. “I would listen a little bit more to the drivers and be a little bit more self-critical.”

The team has slumped from fifth place in the championship this year to ninth. Steiner said the opportunity to learn from the mistakes it has made this year in designing its car for the 2020 F1 season has been a “silver lining” for Haas.

“Yes, I would say there is a silver lining. We started to react during the summer break to work on the 2020 car – to try to avoid the mistakes we’ve made this year. We don’t want to repeat them. We’re just moving forward, analyzing and working hard on the 2020 car.”

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2019 F1 season