It’s not the budget cap, it’s the budget

Guenther Steiner says Haas won’t be left in “pain” by their decision not to join their rivals in updating their car at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

But while he says they can still “get enough out of what we have”, it is a decision based in part on finances.

Haas’ 2022 budget took a hit earlier this year when the team parted ways with title sponsor Uralkali, the latter demanding a refund with Haas counter claiming.

Steiner insisted at the time that while it was a blow to the budget, it was not one that would have a big impact on Haas’ season.

But with the team the only outfit not bringing new parts to this weekend’s Spanish GP, the Haas team boss concedes they do have to look at the bank account when weighing up upgrades.

“It’s the budget,” he told Motorsport.com. “It’s not the budget cap, it’s the budget.”

Pit Crew… Assemble!#HaasF1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/Uou1c9bE2N

— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) May 19, 2022

Steiner isn’t worried that Haas’ rivals will get the jump on them at the Spanish Grand Prix, confident that there is more performance to be found from the current VF-22 package.

Haas have scored 15 points this season, Kevin Magnussen finishing three races inside the top ten. His team-mate Mick Schumacher has yet to get off the mark.

“I think we shouldn’t have pain, otherwise we should have brought the upgrade earlier,” said Steiner.

“As I said before, it was a conscious decision to do this. So I think we can get enough out of what we have got.

“I don’t know what the other ones are bringing. There are big announcements of big upgrades, but I don’t know how good they are.

“It’s not only the upgrades, it’s also you understand the car better, you just make improvements. Especially this year, it’s difficult to say with the bouncing, because with the bouncing, if you have bouncing, you’re really slow.

“And then if you sort that one out, you go really fast. But that doesn’t mean that…