Haas to build up spare for Gutierrez

While Esteban Gutierrez's car fared considerably better than Fernando Alonso's McLaren in the coming together in the Australian Grand Prix, the Haas team was still left with a headache ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

McLaren knows that it needs to replace Alonso's wrecked MP4-31, and fears that the Spaniard may have lost an engine and more in the frightening tumble that he took after hitting the back of the Haas on the run to turn three at Albert Park, but its American rival is taking no chances with Gutierrez's VF-16, which sustained heavy left rear corner damage in the impact.

"Some of the parts, for example the chassis, were sent back to Europe to be checked and fixed because we can't do it onsite in Bahrain," team principal Gunther Steiner revealed, "We have enough spare parts to build up another chassis, so we will use that, and the chassis that is repaired will be sent to Bahrain via air to serve as our spare.

"The guys will have to work day and night to get to Bahrain, but it's all doable. Our spare quantity is down, but we have enough to get going again, so we will just keep on working."

The Haas team has not had an easy introduction to F1, with gremlins and teething troubles in pre-season testing, Romain Grosjean's pit-lane collision in Saturday practice in Australia and then Gutierrez's accident, but Steiner is confident that there will be no ill-effects at round two.

"We chose good, quality people," he pointed out, "Nobody gets down in adversity. Everybody gets up. They are working on the solution, not on the problem. They work together because they are professionals and they know they can get it done together as a team. It all comes down to the quality of people, and I think our quality is pretty high."