Romain Grosjean believes Haas is the fourth best team on the grid but currently can’t show it because of tyres issues.
The American outfit has had a difficult start to the season with Kevin Magnussen’s seventh place in Australia the only points on the board despite having good single lap pace.
Maintaining heat in the Pirelli tyres has been their main problem as the compounds have fallen out of their peak operating window, but Grosjean insists the car itself is fine.
“The baseline of the car is still the best in the midfield, to be fair,” the Frenchman was quoted by PlanetF1.
“I believe downforce and so on is there, but if you can’t get the tyres to work, whatever you have, it doesn’t seem to be working.
“I don’t think [the tyre issues are due to] downforce, we have more downforce than some other cars in the midfield and they can run the tyres, so it has to be somewhere else.”
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This weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix may offer an opportunity for Haas to get a better result on a circuit where temperatures are higher and there is plenty of high-speed corners.
Also, the VF-19 is getting an upgrade, which most teams will also be bringing.
“I’m going to try the update for Barcelona, it’s quite a big one and hopefully, it helps,” Grosjean added.
“But if we don’t get the tyres in the window it’s just pointless.”
