Haas has moved ahead of Williams in the backmarker battle to avoid finishing at the foot of the Formula 1 standings.
Haas was braced for a difficult campaign in 2021 amid the decision to effectively abandon development of its VF-21, in order to focus on 2022, while it also recruited rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin on multi-year deals.
Neither Haas nor Williams have yet scored in 2021 but Mick Schumacher’s 13th place in Azerbaijan moved Haas ahead of its rivals in the standings for the first time this year.
Haas has finished ninth in the championship across the past two seasons while Williams – without a point since mid-2019 – has brought up the rear in each of the last three campaigns.
Williams’ prospects unravelled during the closing stages at the Baku City Circuit.
George Russell was unable to take the restart due to a gearbox problem and crawled into the pit lane to retire.
Nicholas Latifi’s race was undone as he was handed a time penalty after a communication mix-up meant he stayed on track, rather than follow the Safety Car through the pits, following Max Verstappen’s accident.
Latifi had crossed the line in 13th, ahead of the Haas drivers, but a 30-second time penalty relegated him to 16th spot.
“In the end we had our best result of the year, which I’m very happy about for everybody,” said Haas boss Guenther Steiner. “For where we are at the moment it’s very difficult to get this result.”
Schumacher and Mazepin were split by just 0.074s at the chequered flag after a battle to the line, with Schumacher angered at Mazepin jinking towards his path as they scrapped for position.
Steiner stressed post-race that the situation was “all resolved” and “we’ve cleared the air.
“There was some misunderstanding, but we’re fine, and all moving on from it.”
