Q&A GUNTHER STEINER

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner has publicly backed Romain Grosjean during the driver’s difficult spell, and was repaid with a superb effort to fourth in Austria. Steiner is confident it’s a turning point for Grosjean.

What’s the meaning of this result for team morale and confidence?

I think it’s a redemption. We got back. Everybody was, ‘Oh the team must be demoralised’ and all that. They never were. Everybody knows the potential of the car, and if you know the potential then it will come if you work hard. And it came. This is fantastic, the 50th race, to finish fourth and fifth is for the guys – you can imagine how happy they are.

How important a result is this for Romain?

Sure, he was close a few times and it always slipped away, so I guess we need to keep focused, but we always said we gave him our confidence. He did good for us for a long time and we knew he would come back to be the Romain he was last year, so I hope this triggers an event with lots and lots of points for Haas F1.

Did you notice any dip in Romain’s confidence before this weekend?

No, I wouldn’t say so. Emotionally, after [crashes] that happened in Baku and Barcelona for sure the emotions straight after the event are very high, but he came back to himself very quick. We spoke about it and said, ‘Just keep on doing what you’re doing and it will come to us.’ Sure, if he had 50 points now his confidence would be higher, but now he knows he needs to work hard and he can get points.

Are you targeting fourth in the constructors’ championship now given Renault’s disaster? Absolutely. You cannot just target fifth because we are fifth now – you need to always try to get more. Luck goes around – sometimes somebody gets lucky and somebody else gets unlucky. Renault is a strong team, they know what they are doing, and they will not make it easy for us.