Haas F1 team changes brake material for Mexican GP

Haas has changed its Formula 1 brake material in a bid to get on top of the problems that have affected its maiden season

Esteban Gutierrez encountered the team's latest brake-related problem when he ran off track during the United States Grand Prix and was forced to retire.

Ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, supplier Brembo has changed the material and Haas boss Gunther Steiner is hopeful that will do the trick.

"We do the best we can to keep it under control," he said.

"We have some different parts coming but we still need to see how it works.

"We do something to do the utmost possible to make sure it doesn't happen again and we hope we get it working.

"We use a different material here. It's a new material to us.

"We need to test it to see if the drivers are happy with it.

"I think we keep this one as it seems to be avoiding the problem we have in Austin - that is our main aim.

"I'm confident we find a solution for Brembo tomorrow, to overcome the problem until the end of the year."

When asked by Autosport why Haas is having problems when Ferrari, which also uses Brembo, is not struggling, Steiner said: "I cannot give you a straight answer because I don't know what Ferrari is running.

"We need to find out from Brembo and Brembo need to come up with a solution.

"Or if we are doing something wrong, we need to be advised how to do it right.

"We have just done what we have been told, we have given our process to Brembo and we haven't heard this is wrong.

"Brembo is sending some more people down this weekend and we have to see that we're not having the problem anymore."

Steiner said there is no contingency in place for the next race in Brazil if a solution is not found this weekend because "brake material is very complex" and it's not as simple as just changing suppliers.

"If you change to another material, it takes a lot of lead time because it takes a long time to make," he said.

"The quantity is difficult because nobody is used to making big quantities.

"Next year, the brake material will be different because of the wider tyres.

"It will be difficult to do anything for this year."