Steiner admits Haas surprised themselves

The newest team in Formula One are pretty competitive as it stands, with Haas claiming fifth place in the 2018 Constructors’ Championship and challenging fourth placed Renault all the way.

The American team scored 93 points last season as they took big steps in their third season in F1.

It could’ve been even more without some bad luck along the way, most notably the pit stop errors in Australia and Romain Grosjean’s poor form in the first half of the season.

Despite this, team boss Gunther Steiner says that the team has surprised itself with its success.

He told Autosport: "I think we surprised a lot of people. I mean, did we surprise ourselves? A little bit I would say.

"We were aiming for sixth, we were fighting for fourth and we finished fifth. So yes, it's a bit of a surprise.

"But then again, like always, [with] everybody competitive, if you get this close to fourth you would like to have fourth. But then at least we will try again next year."

Haas have been a good addition to F1, bringing an extra challenger to the midfield and making the battle for the lower end of the points

Steiner added: "It's nice to have a car up there. And I don't think that our team is not good enough. It's just that it's experience you need to make it, and normally it takes time.

"But for sure we didn't get out always everything from this car. But even if the car would have been lower, maybe we wouldn't have got out something if we would have been [with more experience].

"We are growing, you know, we are making experience, we are learning. And this is a game of learning, because otherwise it would be worth nothing somebody being here 20 or 30 years.

"We are not the biggest team but I think for what we have got, the amount of people, I think we've got a very good bunch of people in my opinion."