Haas team boss, Guenther Steiner admits that the lack of a spare chassis and even some parts, has left the American outfit vulnerable over the Melbourne weekend, but he's refusing to panic.

While Mick Schumacher was fit enough to take part in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix following his qualifying crash, his car wasn't. Indeed, due to the lack of a spare chassis, though the German was fit and able to race, his entry was withdrawn.

With the team still recovering from the loss of its title sponsor, and the obvious cash shortfall, the estimated $1m cost of the Jeddah crash has hit hard.

To further complicate matters the team remains short on spare parts and even a spare chassis.

"The situation with spare parts is expected on race number two after a big crash," admits Steiner. "We have everything, but we have no abundance of spare parts.

"The next question is how is the spare chassis?" adds the Italian, who celebrates his birthday today. "We haven't got one because we have sent it back to Europe at the beginning of the week, so we'll get it ready for Imola.

"We had to bring it here because of customs formalities," he reveals, "it had to enter here (Australia) and then it could be shipped back to Europe from here, and it's on its way back now."

However, though the situation leaves the team vulnerable, he is refusing to panic.

"We cannot approach the situation differently," he admits. "The drivers are aware of the situation, that there is no spare chassis, but that can happen sometimes.

"I'm not panicking," he insists, "and if something happens, we will deal with it as it comes along. You cannot say 'go out there and drive slowly', that doesn't make sense, just like 'don't take extra risks if you don't have to'."

This weekend marks the American outfit's 125th Grand Prix, and Steiner admits that it has been a rollercoaster ride over the years.

""We've had a lot of downs over the six years but quite good ups as well. I'd say more than 50 percent of the people that were there at the first race are still with us, so that for me is an achievement.

"It's been a very good ride," he smiles, "there's been some challenges in the ride, but it's been fantastic. The most memorable moment for sure was the sixth-place finish in our first race, and second, the fifth-place finish in the championship in 2018, which we will try to replicate hopefully soon."

Check out our Thursday gallery from Melbourne, here.