Haas F1 mid season analysis: Romain Grosjean vs Kevin Magnussen in the Haas head-to-head

It hasn't been a huge step forward for Haas in its second Formula 1 season, a single point up on the midway point in 2016.

But having joined F1 either side of a major rules transition, the American outfit can be satisfied that they have not suffered the common "difficult second season" of many new teams in the past.

Sitting seventh in the standings, partly due to McLaren Honda's lack of reliability and partly due to some handy performances from Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, Haas are three points ahead of Renault and 10 points behind Toro Rosso.

Last year's focus on developing the 2017 car, according to Team Principal Guenther Steiner, has helped Haas avoid a dip in form.

"You can always end up in a hole but I had a terrible second season in one of my projects and I learned a lot out of it," said Steiner to Autosport.

"When last year we decided to switch over to develop the 2017 car, because it wasn't going bad for us [at the time] it was like 'why are you not bringing updates, haven't you got any money?'

"No, no. We didn't want to, because we'd just confuse ourselves. First of all we'd confuse ourselves in 2016 plus we'd fall behind in preparing for '17."

There is a lot of work to do in making the tyres work and honing the VF-17's chassis for Haas but its now-competitive Ferrari power unit is paying dividends and Haas could find itself fighting for sixth place in 2018.

Autosport also reported that the team's final upgrades would arrive for the Singapore Grand Prix this year, when current development will cease as Haas works on its 2018 challenger.

Reassuringly, the team has retained Grosjean and Magnussen for next season which keeps the two away from a distracting and possibly demoralising silly season which will see a number of drivers changing teams.

Grosjean himself has been fighting with the car itself, dubbing it a lawnmower in practice for the Austrian GP and berating its brakes throughout the season, most recently in Azerbaijan.

A brilliant season-high finish of sixth in Austria (even after his complaints) shows that Grosjean is capable of raking in the points for Haas but a non-points finish in Azerbaijan, when team-mate Magnussen finished seventh, shows Grosjean's inconsistency. However, the Frenchman blamed his braking technique after the race at Baku - something he needs to overcome.

"Braking is my strength, since Formula Renault," explained Grosjean. "But when things are not working as I want, it's my biggest weakness. When it's not good, then I'm lost. I admit it and I need to work on that and I'm sure I can get better."

Team-mate Magnussen has capably replaced Esteban Gutierrez and provided Grosjean a hefty challenge. In his debut Haas season, the Dane sits 14th in the drivers' standings with 11 points, one place and seven points behind Grosjean.

His recent clash with Nico Hulkenberg in Hungary shows that Magnussen has a fire in his belly, as he told the Renault frontman, "suck my b***s," after an on track and off track confrontation. Perhaps less memorable but more important was a seventh place finish in Azerbaijan and eighth place in China.

An opening lap issue with Sauber's Marcus Ericsson in Australia was unnecessary and an unfortunate mechanical issue put him out of the race in Bahrain, though Magnussen did qualify last. In fact, Magnussen hasn't made it into Q3 yet this season. Qualifying aside, the two provide a close and very competitive intra-team battle.

Haas' 2017 season in numbers

With 1098 race laps completed, Haas is the sixth most reliable team this year in F1; Magnussen has completed 570 and Grosjean has completed 528.

The pair has three failures to finish each. In Australia, both did not finish with Magnussen retiring from a suspension failure after his collision with Ericsson. Grosjean suffered a loss of power after just 13 laps having qualified sixth for the race.

Magnussen also retired in Bahrain with a loss of power and most recently in Austria as a hydraulic pipe which controlled the DRS system cut open during the race. Grosjean was sent airborne by Jolyon Palmer in Russia and retired with a broken wheel-nut in Hungary.

In the six races that both have finished, Grosjean has finished three ahead of his team-mate and Magnussen vice versa, but Grosjean's average finishing position this season is 10th while Magnussen has finished on average 11th.

That statistic would be different had Magnussen not collided with Toro Rosso's Kvyat towards the end of the Spanish GP, triggering a puncture for the Haas driver.

However, Grosjean led all laps in Monaco over his team-mate having qualified ahead of him but was leading Magnussen in Hungary before retiring due to a mechanical failure.

As a result, Magnussen has led 244 laps over his team-mate while Grosjean has led 193 over the Dane. When it comes to laps raced in the top 10, Grosjean has put in 259 while Magnussen has turned 251 in another even comparison.

If those reliability and braking concerns are alleviated in the second half of 2017, Grosjean may go on to sweep the head-to-heads.

He is winning the qualifying battle 7-4 over Magnussen and Magnussen, as mentioned, hasn't reached Q3 this season coming closest with 11th for the Spanish GP.

As both gain an average of two positions per race - including Grosjean's loss of three places at Silverstone as he struggled on super-softs and Magnussen's late drama in Spain where he lost three places - any pushes into Q3 will be crucial to Haas' points-scoring efforts for the rest of 2017.

With 29 points at this stage compared to 28 at 2016's mid season, Haas' consistency over the two seasons is clear.

Magnussen has 11 points - five more than he did with Renault last season after 11 races. Grosjean, on the other hand, had 28 points at this time in 2016, with just 18 so far this season.