Having made a decision on developement direction, Haas were hoping for a change of fortune as the second 'half' of the F1 season began in Belgium. Sadly for the beleaguered American team, what they got was more of the same as they endured another difficult race in Spa, with Kevin Magnussen finishing 12th and Romain Grosjean 13th. And as Team Principal Guenther Steiner unpacked their disappointing weekend, he admitted there had been ‘nothing encouraging’ in the team’s performance.

“It was good [early on]," Steiner said, "but then it all landed, we just didn’t have enough top speed here, you know? We hadn’t got the pace to get past anybody else. But everybody else could pass us. For sure, it’s nothing encouraging."

The lack of top speed was characterised by Magnussen’s loss of five places between Laps 10 and 15, and Grosjean’s drop from sixth on the opening lap to 13th at the end. The only consolation was that the medium tyres worked well on the VF-19s – a contrast to the tyre issues Haas have been fighting all season.

“I am very, very upset at the minute,” said Grosjean. “Not against anyone, just the situation. We had a great start, the car was performing very well at the start of the race so I was really happy with the car, pulling the gap and then we fitted the medium and I thought ‘Okay the car is even better, that’s going to be a really good afternoon’.”