Haas chief Gunther Steiner hilariously claimed he would have 'f***ed the whole paddock' for two points in the constructors' championship last year.

Returning driver Kevin Magnussen secured a ninth-placed finish at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on Sunday on the back of his magnificent fifth at the Bahrain GP the week before, to leave 2021 strugglers Haas fifth in the constructors' standings.

And Steiner revelled in the Dane's result, joking he would have been desperate for those kind of point last campaign, in which Haas finished rock bottom of the standings - the only team with zero points. 

He said: 'It is always disappointing, you always want the maximum but if you think about it, you cannot be too greedy. Last year, for two points, I would have f**ked the whole paddock. It's a good place to be.

'The biggest issue was that we started on a different strategy like two other cars and the safety car came out at the wrong time for us, at the most inconvenient time.

'On the other side, you could see three cars dropped out in front of us so we are lucky with that one. But I think if the strategy had of worked out and the safety car wouldn't have come out, we could have been seventh.'

The 56-year-old later denied it with tongue-in-cheek, pretending he said 'hugged' instead.

And Steiner confirmed his other driver Mick Schumacher would be fit and ready for the Australian GP in Melbourne in a fortnight after the horrific 170mph crash in Jeddah which saw him airlifted to hospital.

He added: 'He will be perfectly fine to race in Melbourne. The car will be ready and he will be ready as well so I don't see an issue with it.'