Beating Williams would be the "ultimate" for Haas in 2021, according to team boss Guenther Steiner.
The American squad was always expected to struggle this season, after opting to bring very limited upgrades to their car and instead put almost all focus on the new regulations in 2022.
And that was realised in Bahrain as Mick Schumacher occasionally split George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, but mostly it was a struggle as both drivers spun in the opening laps.
“Our car is not easy to drive. If we ever beat the Williams, that will be the ultimate [achievement]," Steiner said post-race.
“Our focus this year must be on preparing the drivers so that they will be strong when our car is good again.”
Also Read:
- Mazepin endures 'one of my worst days in my life' after Lap 1 crash
- Schumacher '90 percent happy' as first F1 race yields more experience
- 'Damage control' the aim at Haas as team focuses on 2022
However, Schumacher does believe Haas can look a little higher than that.
“I am positive in that sense, yes,” he said. “Obviously, we will be working on ourselves, I will be working on myself a lot so I see the motivation in the team.
“I see no reason why we shouldn’t be optimistic about throughout the season to be able to, hopefully at some point, go into Q2.”
While fighting at the back in F1 is a little different to last year, when the German was competing for the F2 championship, he claims his approach isn't much different.
“I have a mindset which is I want to do my best and obviously, what we have is what we have and we can only try to improve it," he explained.
“That is the same mentality that the top teams have as well.
“They are looking for those tenths, those little percentages to make themselves faster and we do that too so in myself as a driver, and us together as a team.”
