MEDLAND: Why Haas won't settle for being 'Team America'

If you go to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships you can sit on Henman Hill, so-named by fans who would congregate on the grassy slope watching home favorite Tim Henman's matches on a big screen.

Attempts to re-name it Murray Mound once Henman retired and the Scot started winning majors never quite stuck. Why? Because there was an original attachment that extended beyond the obvious patriotism, and winning wasn't the cementing factor.

At Circuit of the Americas this weekend, fans gathered on the outside of Turn 19 will be perched on Haas Hill, a nod to the U.S. team at the U.S. race. Perhaps it will not have the lasting impact of 'Tiger Tim', but it is a reminder that pre-Liberty – and its hopes of American expansion – there were two major pillars of the sport already in place.

"We are in F1 for the global reach," Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says. "Haas Automation wants to bring brand awareness globally. In the States they have got quite a good awareness. But it's always good to build in the U.S. because some other sponsors can come in, and I think it is a good market for Formula 1. It's a big market, and it's underdeveloped.

"The fans that are always there in Austin appreciate that we are American, and it's nice to be there. In general it's another race but it's always good to have a little bit more support than normal. That said, the biggest support you get is when you get results, so that is what we're targeting."

It's the final sentence that is a telling one. For Haas Hill to be little more than a nice name for a fan zone, the team needs to really give the locals something to cheer about. 2017 has been a bit of an odd season in that regard, with Haas bettering last year's points total, yet not replicating the same highs it enjoyed during its debut year.

"Progress has been a little bit flatter, but the last races were particularly strange in my opinion," Steiner admits. "But they were strange for a lot of teams, not only us. We are not singled out. In Malaysia we obviously struggled in qualifying, but in the race we had a good race. It didn't end up with points, but we were not too bad. We battled with Renault, with the Toro Rossos, with McLaren, so it was not too bad.

"Then there were double points in Japan. So it's still trying to find out how to get rid of these ups and downs, but it's very difficult at the moment. I see the big teams struggle a little bit with it as well, so it must be more difficult for us than the teams who have got 700-800 people working for them.

"We have more points than last year. We said we were going to do that, and we have done it. The midfield this year is tighter than ever which doesn't make it easier, but we keep on fighting and I think we can have good moments."

The midfield battle looks set to go to the wire, and seventh-placed Haas will have its eyes on closing the gap to a Toro Rosso team nine points ahead in the constructors' championship, but in disarray with its driver line-up. Yet the two teams behind Steiner's outfit are Renault and McLaren, boasting not only huge resources, but also massive experience in the sport.

"When it gets to the limit [in the midfield battle] their limit is further ahead because their budget is bigger; they have got more resources because they employ about three times as many people as we have got," he says. "I don't want to use that as an excuse though because we knew that coming into the sport, we just need to be sharper, but it doesn't help you.

"Sometimes we can properly fight them, which is a satisfaction, but it seems we cannot do it on a consistent basis yet because we lack a little bit of experience that they have. Take whoever you want, but the second-youngest team is maybe Sauber, which is 25 years old, because Force India was Jordan before, they are all here with at least 25 years of experience [ED: Red Bull started life as Stewart Grand Prix in 1997].

"So to make it up, the only thing we cannot buy is time, but I think for who we are and what we are doing, we are not doing badly..."

Now nearing the end of only its second season in the sport, Haas continues to expand as it establishes itself in the midfield. For Steiner, the tie-up with Ferrari means it will never need to recruit at the same rate as some of its rivals, but he insists that doesn't make the team immune to the need to strengthen its workforce.

"You have to grow," he says. "You cannot stand still because then you go backwards, but at least to stay current you need to grow because everybody else is investing more. Renault took on something like 300 people over the winter. I don't know the exact number – could be 200, could be 350 – but they took a lot of people on and we just need to try to keep up with them.

"We cannot employ 200-300 people but we still need to keep on doing what we are doing in the way we are doing it. Our business model works but we need more people as well and more resources."

While the results only show slight progress, the fact that Haas has developed its car to stay in touch with the midfield is a solid achievement for such a new team. Steiner concludes the hurdles faced this season have shown the ingredients are in place to move further up the grid, but one of the most crucial ones can't be bought.

"It's been more challenging developing the chassis. We knew that and that's why we didn't do it last year, because last year we would have confused ourselves. This year we didn't confuse ourselves, but we worked hard and were very cautious about what to do and also made sure to get a good understanding about how to react to these things.

"This year, I think the tire management overrules everything. You can put as many updates as you want onto the car, but it would not make as much of a difference as knowing how to manage the tires correctly. We did more car development and we will do even more next year because we learned how to do it more efficiently, but that is also gaining experience, that just comes over time.

"You cannot demand to have that experience now. You can get experienced people in, but you still need to get a group of people to work together. I think we are not doing badly, it just takes time, and sometimes you need to be a little bit patient."

Haas Hill might not be celebrating podiums or victories on Sunday, but given the time Steiner craves, there's every chance it will become a mainstay of COTA's F1 weekend.