Guenther Steiner believes Haas' competitive start to 2017 shows the team is already "a lot more stable" in performances than in its rookie campaign last year.

The Haas team has scored points at four of the six races of the campaign so far, but finds itself eighth in the championship -- at the bottom of the tight midfield battle behind Force India. It scored its first-ever double points finish at the Monaco Grand Prix to move level with Renault.

Team boss Steiner believes Haas can continue cutting the gap if it can remain in a position to fight for points with both cars.

When asked if another double points finish in Canada is key to slashing the gap to its rivals, Steiner said: "For sure it would help, but we're already confident as we've been in the points four times in the last six races. In Australia, before we broke the turbocharger, we were seventh. So, the only race where we weren't in a points position was Russia. From all our races, we've always been in a good position, so we're a lot more stable than last year already.

"You can't always get in there all the time - even the big teams like Force India, which is fourth in the championship, didn't get into the points in Monte Carlo with either car, and that's because the midfield is so tight. I think we can achieve it, because if you're there or about, it will happen."

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With Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull likely to occupy the top six positions of a race, barring any misfortune, Steiner believes it is tough to make big gains in the midfield fight.

"It's very difficult. There is so little room between hero and zero. If you're not in the points it looks really bad, but six spots are already taken, typically. We are fighting for four spots. It is very difficult to achieve, but we've achieved it four times now this year.

"You see the points difference between Toro Rosso, which is fifth and us in seventh. They've got 29 points and we've got 14. They have double the points, but 14 is not insurmountable. You get two good results and you're there. That shows how competitive it is in the midfield. So for us to be in the points four times out of six races is some measure of success."