Haas Reveals Biggest Azerbaijan GP Target After Mick Schumacher’s Million-Dollar Shunt in Monaco

As Formula 1 moves to Baku, things have not been smooth sailing for Haas. Although Kevin Magnussen has started the season in a solid fashion, Mick Schumacher is still struggling to adjust to VF-22 and is yet to score a point. Furthermore, the young German’s crashes have already costed Haas a chunk of its budget.

As per reports, Schumacher’s collision in Monaco cost the American team around a million dollars. For a team of Haas’ stature, these crashes cannot repeat, especially with the budget cap in play. With a double header coming up, team boss Guenther Steiner revealed their intention to play it safe for the races in Baku and Montreal.

Haas boss reflects on his ambition ahead of Azerbaijan GP

As the third double header of the season is right around the corner, Haas will have their work cut out. Notably, this is the first time F1 moves to a different continent for races on consecutive weekends. So, the teams naturally face an uphill task.

Speaking on the challenges ahead, Steiner said, “The challenges are that you go from one continent to another, it’s a long journey and the team works very hard to do everything. You have to have a good team and work hard, but it’s a challenge because they only have a few days to put everything back in place and start again for the next race.” (Quotes translated using Google)

As a result, Baku becomes an important weekend, especially for Schumacher. His crashes in Jeddah and Monaco have not helped the team’s cause. Hence, the Italian revealed they are looking at damage limitation for the upcoming race.

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“If you have damage to the car, it becomes more difficult, so we hope we don’t have any damage in Baku. In next season’s plans, it would be great if we could combine races by region of the globe. I know that Stefano Domenicali is working this subject and it will go in the right direction from next year,” he added.

Despite recent struggles Guenther Steiner is still hoping for a positive result

Haas drivers have a point to prove during the Azerbaijan GP. The last time the team scored points was in April during the race in Imola. Since then, they have struggled to compete even for the points position. However, Steiner feels the car is showing potential.

He stated, “Obviously the circuit is divided as you say into two elements – very fast and very winding. I think with our car we have made good progress in Spain with the set-up of the car and it is behaving well in all circumstances at the moment.”

“We have to find the right set-up and I think we can have a good result like we would have done in Spain and Monte Carlo if things had gone differently.”

READ MORE: Haas F1 Weary of $1,000,000 Repeat With ‘Costly’ Mick Schumacher Incident at Monaco GP

While damage limitation looks to be their primary concern, Haas also needs some points on the board. Coming into the season, the team saw Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri as their major competitors. But, both the teams are above them on the standings.

Do you think Haas will show improvement in the upcoming race in Baku? Let us know in the comments.