A promising weekend for Haas in Melbourne turned to disappointment after both cars retired from the race.
Having started from sixth, Romain Grosjean was heading for a solid points finish when a water leak forced him to retire in the pits.
Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen was involved in a first lap collision with Marcus Ericsson, which forced him to pit for a front wing change. Later the team told him to stop the car with what was initially thought to be a suspension issue, but which turned out to be a puncture.
Despite the frustration, team boss Guenther Steiner was encouraged by the pace of the car.
“We know the car is good,” he said. “They are both positive – especially Romain, he was very positive. He lost a place to Massa on the start, but he wasn’t too concerned about it. He saw the speed, and I mean everyone could see that he could keep the Toro Rossos easily away. The car has got speed.
“But how many opportunities like this you get? That’s what it is. With such a tight midfield, it’s a lost opportunity. It’s disappointing, but it could be worse. We could be slow. I think it’s a lot easier to find reliability than speed. So it seems like we’ve got the speed.
“We need to find it everywhere, on each track, more consistent than last year. I think we can do that this year. But again, we also need to be reliable, because you can have the quickest car but if you break down you don’t get the points. We will try hard in Shanghai. Let’s see. At the moment I can’t wait to get there to forget this one.”
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