'No point' in continuing to develop 2018 car- Steiner

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has confessed that the team will no longer attempt to develop their current VF-18 vehicle as there would be "no point" at this stage of the season, and that they have already turned their attentions to the 2019 campaign.

Next season will see changes and evolution of the aerodynamic features of F1 cars, so Steiner thinks Haas' time will be better served focusing on that huge task rather than worrying about developing their current car for the final nine races in 2018.

"It’s clearly defined," Steiner insisted when asked about the team's plans.

"We started the 2019 car a few weeks ago and there’s no point in developing the 2018 car any longer because if you do continue development, by the time you manufacture the parts, it’s near the end of the season.

"The gains are too small to use the parts in only two or three races. We do have a few more parts coming, but that’s it for the development of the 2018 car.

"We will bring a few more to the next races. They will not be big updates, but we will keep bringing them like everybody else. We’ve learned to produce upgrades, bring them to the car, and have them working.

"This is a step that we have achieved in 2018 that we did not have in 2017."

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Steiner claims that the new changes will not have a drastic affect on the planning for 2019, and that the team is effectively starting from scratch in their development of the 2019 challenger car.

"It hasn’t affected the planning," the Haas boss continued.

"Maybe we switched a few sessions before because if we were only making an evolution of the 2018 car for next year, with the same regulations, you could use whatever you learned this year for next year’s car.

"By changing regulations you need to start a little more fresh. So, you have to focus a little bit before and you cannot use what you developed for the 2018 car on the 2019 car."