Haas expected more from Gutierrez

Haas chief Gunther Steiner says his team expected Esteban Gutierrez to have been closer to teammate Romain Grosjean's points tally this year, but says the Mexican should not be blamed entirely for what has happened.

Esteban Gutierrez, Haas F1 Team VF-16 spins

While Grosjean has scored 28 points so far this campaign, Gutierrez has yet to score, having finished 11th five times.

Speaking ahead of his team's home race, Steiner said that Haas would have expected more knowing that its car has been good enough to get in to the top 10.

"We may have expected that he makes some points – knowing now that Romain made points because last year we didn't know if we would make any points, because we couldn't expect any points," explained Steiner.

"We would have hoped that the gap was closer to make the points."

Steiner made it clear, however, that Gutierrez was not entirely to blame for his points drought, with events like his crash with Fernando Alonso in Australia and mechanical retirements hurting his chances.

"I think there is nobody more disappointed than himself that he didn't score points," added Steiner. "Being a race car driver for sure he doesn't like not to score points and his teammate having 28. It is a big difference.

"But we have to give him credit. In the first races he had some issues – Alonso ran in to him and we had some brake issues and some engine issues. So all in all we are disappointed but it is not all down to him."

Gutierrez is still hoping he will be retained by Haas for next year, although the team is in no rush to decide who will race alongside Grosjean.

"We are talking about it now," said Steiner. "We haven't made the decision yet. It is not only down to points, it's down to a lot of other factors."