Steiner doesn't expect "pain" from Haas holding F1 updates for France

While most teams have new parts for Barcelona, Haas has decided to wait and introduce one bigger package which is currently scheduled for the French GP in late July.

Although other midfield teams look to set to make steps in performance in Spain and beyond, Steiner says he doesn’t expect any “pain” to result from the team’s strategy of waiting a few more races.

Steiner added that Haas had a "substantial" package in position for France, and that it would affect the majority of the VF-22 car.

"I have no idea about what updates other people are bringing,” he said. “If I would know that, I would be a smart guy!

“We know exactly, we made a plan, why we do this. So we just go along with our plan, and don't jump on what other people do, and react to it.”

“[It covers] everything; you will see when we bring the upgrade, it's everywhere, we will make a nice package.

“I wouldn't say everywhere, that's exaggerated, but quite a big one, it's not just a turning vane or something like this. It's quite that a few changes, it's substantial - I think for France.”

Expanding on any potential disadvantage for Haas in the coming races Steiner insisted that the team can still extract performance from its current package.

Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-22, makes a pit stop

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

All teams are making steps with their 2022 cars as they learn more about them, and the Haas team principal stressed that honing set-up was as important as adding new parts.

“I think we shouldn't have pain, otherwise we should have brought the upgrade earlier. As I said before, it was a conscious decision to do this. So I think we can get enough out of what we have got.

“And again, I have to repeat, I don't know what the other ones are bringing. There are big announcements of big upgrades, but I don't know how good they are.”

"It's not only the upgrades, it's also you understand the car better, you just make improvements. Especially this year, it's difficult to say with the bouncing, because with the bouncing, if you have bouncing, you're really slow.

“And then if you sort that one out, you go really fast. But that doesn't mean that it's an upgrade. It's maybe only in your set-up that you can get rid of the bouncing."

Steiner also confirmed that while the big teams have to carefully manage upgrades to stay within the budget cap limit, at Haas it’s a question of how much the team has to spend: "It's the budget! It's not the budget cap, it's the budget.”