Haas boss Guenther Steiner believes the team “has some confidence back” in the wake of Mick Schumacher making it through to Q2 in Turkey.
Haas has languished at the back of the field through 2021 with its undeveloped car as it focuses its resources on the new-for-2022 project.
Schumacher made it through to Q2 earlier in the year in France though that came courtesy of his own Q1 crash, which ended the session, denying rivals the chance to improve.
In Turkey Schumacher made it through to Q2 on pace alone, marking Haas’ first appearance in the session this year, and he went on to qualify 14th.
“I was obviously happy for Mick that he got it done, but for the whole team because we’ve had very few on-track highlights,” said Steiner.
“Having something like this assures you that we can do it – that we can execute when we get the opportunity.
“I think this will have an impact in the next races for the team because they got some of the confidence back that they maybe lost a bit over the year and hopefully we can have another moment like this in 2021.”
Schumacher was present in the US at the weekend, attending NASCAR’s round at the Texas Motor Speedway, as a guest of Stewart-Haas Racing.
“It’s our home race so obviously I’m excited about that, but it’s much more than that,” he said.
“I like Austin and the US. It’s special and it’s something where Formula 1 isn’t as big just yet but we’re on the verge of becoming very big, especially due the ‘Drive to Survive’ series.
“I’m very much looking forward to it as it’s a great show, there’s always so much happening and frankly, I’m just super excited about going back to the states.”
