Gunther Steiner is surprised by the amount of running Haas has done in the first Formula 1 pre-season test but admits it still has a long list of problems to fix.
The American newcomer completed 281 laps over the course of the four days, more than McLaren and Manor but around 400 shy of Mercedes.
Romain Grosjean encountered a front wing failure on the first day, while on Friday Esteban Gutierrez had a brake problem and then had his day cut short by electronics issues when the team was planning a soft-tyre run to set a quick laptime.
But the Mexican did manage to complete the team’s first race simulation, giving it a chance to practice live pit stops.
“We are pretty happy with progress of testing,” said team principal Steiner.
“We didn’t anticipate we could get all this running done this week.
“To do a whole race distance was pretty cool so that gives a good feeling.
“We would have liked to put a fast lap in at the end but we ran out of time because we had the electronics issues.
“We expected more problems or to run less.”
Steiner said Haas has plenty of work to do but is confident the outfit is on top of everything.
“The list is pretty long what we have to fix and we are working on it,” he said.
“There are trucks leaving this evening to fix stuff.
“We have got a solution for most of the problems. It’s just time, it’s the biggest issue to fix it all in time.
“But it’s not like we’re worried about how to fix it. We’re in good shape on that one.”
Haas already has its second chassis at Barcelona and plans to put mileage on it in next week’s test ahead of the opening race in Melbourne.
