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Haas team boss Guenther Steiner has admitted his reliability concerns “got a little bigger” after the Ferrari failure that cost Kevin Magnussen an MGU-K in Monaco.
Magnussen was on course to score points at the previous race but retired with a power unit problem.
It was the second MGU-K failure Haas suffered in Monaco, as one caused the gearbox to “overload” in opening practice on Mick Schumacher’s car. He needed a new gearbox and MGU-K to complete the weekend.
Ferrari has now had a burst of power unit problems in the last two events across its works and customer teams.
Charles Leclerc retired from the lead in the Spanish Grand Prix while Alfa Romeo had its own MGU-K failure in Friday practice in Monaco.
When asked by The Race if that run of issues left him worried about Ferrari’s reliability, Steiner said: “Would you believe me if said ‘no, I have no concerns at all’?
“You shouldn’t believe it, after what you just [mentioned] happened!
“Obviously, we had some issues, it was mainly Monte Carlo, before we didn’t have any big issue with it.
“But Monte Carlo there were issues on us and Alfa Romeo. So hopefully they stop but you’re always concerned about this.
“Kevin had a good start, everything was going to plan. Obviously we couldn’t have gone up to sixth or seventh but at least ninth, maybe we could have made it.
“So, it’s always disappointing when you then have to stop.
“There are concerns. They’re always there. But after Monte Carlo they are a little bit bigger.”
After the problem that cost Leclerc victory in Spain, Ferrari said it had identified the cause and was confident it would not be repeated, even though it would not disclose what went wrong.
Steiner said he did not yet know what the issue was that afflicted his cars in Monaco.
“They’re still looking into it with the details,” he said. “It’s their job to do it.
“Maybe I never get the full story anyway but I know they take it seriously.
“They will look into it and try to make sure as possible that it doesn’t happen again.”
Magnussen’s retirement was the latest setback for Haas, which has struggled to deliver on its potential at several races this season.
The team kicked the year off with a spectacular fifth place in Bahrain, Magnussen’s comeback after spending 2021 out of F1, but has failed to match that result since.
In fact, Haas has only scored five points in the six races since Bahrain – where Magnussen’s fifth place earned it 10 points.
That leaves Haas eighth in the constructors’ championship despite a car that is evidently more competitive than the AlphaTauri and a rival for Alfa Romeo and Alpine.
“I think we should be better than eighth to be honest,” said Steiner.
“In the beginning we started pretty good, the car has got more potential than we get out of it in the moment.
“We need to get back that we are maximising the performance of the car.
“We’ve got these ups and downs, sometimes in qualifying we’re really good and then the race we’re not good, and then we’re good in the race but we start 15th.
“We just need to have a good weekend. And hopefully score with both cars.
Then you could make big steps pretty quick.
“I hope we can still get in the middle of the midfield.”
