Guenther Steiner says F1's tyre selection process is still a "disadvantage" for the Haas team eight races into its debut season.
Haas' biggest problem in its debut season has been getting its tyres to operate in the right temperature window, struggling in cooler temperatures and excelling when it is hot. Pirelli's new tyre rules for 2016 -- allowing teams to bring three compounds to a race instead of two -- have been praised for opening up strategy during a grand prix but require teams to select its allocations eight weeks before a European race and 14 weeks before a "flyaway" event. .
Haas is the only team without data from last year and Steiner admits this process further complicates an area the team has yet to get on top of.
"Our guys know a lot about the tyres just like the other teams," the team principal said. "They are experienced engineers, but we don't have the data for our car to back them up this season. So, for sure, there is a disadvantage for us.
"We made the first tyre selections before we even had a car. Tyres are definitely one of our struggling points right now, but I know we are making improvements and next year we will be better."
Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez were both unable to explain how Haas could switch its tyres on after a frustrating Canadian Grand Prix. There was a clear improvement in qualifying at the hotter Grand Prix of Europe, though the team fell away during the race itself, something Steiner at the time called "a missed opportunity".
He says the team has learned the lessons of the last few races.
Asked why the team seems to excel in hotter temperatures, he said: "That is what we thought for Baku, but I think we overlooked it and fell outside of the range during the race. In qualifying we managed them well, leading to one of the cars in 11th, which in our position is very good.
"Then in the race we were just outside of the range and with using downforce we couldn't keep the tyres on the car long enough. The temperature was too high and we had to change the tyres. We would rather have that problem than not being able to get the tyres to work.
"One thing to take away from it, though, is that we have learned a lot from the last few events, going from the cold weather in Canada to the hot weather in Baku. My hope is that soon we will have a complete understanding and keep the tyres in the small window they need to work."