Haas boss Guenther Steiner says everyone in Formula One's tight midfield should be considered a threat in the second half of the season due to the unpredictable nature of the fight so far.
Williams, Toro Rosso, Haas and Renault -- who cover fifth to eighth position -- are split by 15 points in the championship, with McLaren a further 15 behind after a strong result at the Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren is expecting to make steps forward after the summer break with Honda, while Renault's latest upgrades showed a clear improvement at Silverstone and Budapest.
Haas' results have been inconsistent, with two scoreless races following strong outings in Azerbaijan and Austria.
When asked if McLaren is now a worry for the teams in the midfield, he replied: "Everyone is a worry, to be honest, but there's always opportunities. Williams has shown bad pace [in Hungary] so I don't jump to conclusions. I always say the midfield is so tight, it can be anything any week.
"Two races before in Austria we were really good. It's up and down all the time so I don't think there is a perfect trend yet about who is strong where and when. I guess Williams will be strong again in Spa and Monza. I guess, but I don't know yet -- it's a little bit weird this year. The midfield is so close together so we are a little bit closer on one type of circuit then you are in front."
Until Budapest, Haas' strongest weekends had generally been races which saw engine and technical partner Ferrari excel. But while Ferrari claimed pole and scored a dominant one-two in Hungary Haas struggled, something Steiner thinks shows the level of difference between the two teams.
"I think aerodynamically they are better than us, otherwise they wouldn't be there. If you don't have the downforce level like them you just struggle more with the tyres, you're too cold or you're too hot. If you have good downforce level... they were very fast in Monte Carlo, on the slow circuits they are very fast and we are not, so that shows big differences in aero."