By alley - Oct 3, 2017, 9:11 AM ET

Steiner wants Haas qualifying improvement

Guenther Steiner wants Haas to focus on improving its qualifying performances after failing to score a point in the Malaysia Grand Prix.

Haas qualified 16th and 17th with Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen respectively at Sepang, with both cars dropping out in Q1. However the two drivers were more competitive in race trim, with Magnussen making an excellent start but eventually crossing the line 12th, one place ahead of his team-mate.

Steiner described Malaysia as "a long weekend at the office", but believes that he saw strong enough race performance to translate into better results from a higher starting position.

"I know we didn't get points, which is always our objective but I think we performed better than we anticipated," he said. "I think we have to work on our qualifying, to figure that one out, because if we start in a better position than we'd have a much better chance to get in the points than we did, where we had to fight our way back.

"A long weekend, a tough weekend but I'm proud of the guys and what they came up with."

Asked about Magnussen's start that saw the Dane climb seven places to 10th on the opening lap, Steiner replied: "Pretty good, no?

"I cannot complain. It was a great start. As I said, if you have such a start when you start 12th or something then you put yourself in a fantastic position."

Steiner highlights understanding tire behavior as the main area of investment for Haas if it wants to climb up the grid.

"Everybody has got a similar issue," he said. "These tires operate in a very small window and you really don't know where it is. There's too many factors, which, for example if Mercedes cannot get it right, sometimes... Yeah you need to invest in people, but you cannot expect it from us. I don't think anyone has got more people looking at tires than Mercedes.

"Sometimes I think there is a lot of luck involved, not only science, but for sure we will invest to try and get better on it, because it's an obvious area where you can gain the most for the money at the moment."