China will give an indication of true position – Gutierrez

Esteban Gutierrez expects Haas to know more about its true position in the pecking order after the Chinese Grand Prix.

Having opened its debut F1 season with consecutive top six finishes courtesy of Romain Grosjean, expectations are high as Haas is targeting points at every race. While Gutierrez is pleasantly surprised with the performance of the car so far, he has urged the team not to get carried away before it has seen its pace in China.

“It is true that we have surprised many people,” Gutierrez said. “It’s a situation that probably we didn’t expect – to be that good.

“We still need to manage our expectations because our car at the moment has reacted pretty well in Melbourne and in Bahrain, but we need to learn how it will react now in China.

“I think China will give us a good indication of how the season will be, and also the fact that all the other teams are pushing really hard to develop their car during the season. And as the season advances, it will get more and more competitive, so we need to be ready for that.

“We can still extract more speed and performance from our car, and China gives us an opportunity to do just that.”

With Shanghai a front-limited circuit which often sees cool temperatures, Gutierrez is backing Haas to be able to continue getting performance out of its car regardless of conditions.

“The different compounds are directly affecting the car’s balance, and our tyre selection seems to be quite good. I feel very confident in our strategy, and I’m involved in the planning and execution. We are working in a very good way, and we’re able to react quickly to any circumstances that might come during the race.”

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