Haas is excited by the prospect of pushing Ferrari’s new Spec 2 engine in Montreal.
In a unique move, the customer teams had to wait until Monaco to get their hands on the latest power unit which the Scuderia first used in Spain.
And with the long straights of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to come, it means the American outfit and Alfa Romeo may well get a midfield boost.
“The performance of the new engine was very good. There were no complaints,” team boss Guenther Steiner said of its first race in Monte Carlo.
“Monaco, as we know, is not a track where the power makes a big difference. It’s always good to have it, but it doesn’t make a big difference.
“In Canada, we’ll really see how much better the engine is. We are hoping it’s a good boost and doing what it should be doing.”
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A chassis upgrade in Barcelona saw Haas dominate the midfield with Kevin Magnussen finishing seventh, but the team was unable to follow up in Monaco due to poor luck and strategy.
Even so: “I still think we’ve got the fastest car of the midfield,” the Dane declared.
“Race pace is ultimately the points-paying factor, we need to focus on that. We’ve seen quite a few races this year where we’ve qualified well then didn’t score any points.
“It was good to try the new engine [in Monaco],” Magnussen added. “It looks like it’s a bit better and a good upgrade. Let’s see how it goes in Montreal with the longer straights.”
This comes as Haas is also playing catch-up in the Constructors’ standings as McLaren pulls out a small lead over the rest in the battle for fourth.
“Everybody’s close together, even fourth place is not far away because if one team has a good result with both cars going, it’s easy to move up to fourth,” Steiner said.
“Everything is very tight, especially between fifth and ninth. I think it’s good for the championship and this has happened mainly because everybody’s struggled at some stage, so far.
“It will get more and more interesting as we move forward in the season. At some stage, there will be two or three teams that move a little ahead if everything goes to plan for them, but I still think it’ll be very tight.
“Everybody seems to struggle at certain kinds of tracks, but we’re not all struggling on the same ones. It’ll be interesting throughout the season.”
