Team boss Gene Haas says it is "really depressing" to see Haas so far behind the top three teams in Formula One this season.

Haas are currently in their second F1 campaign and the American-based outfit, who finished eighth in the 2016 Constructors' Championship, are currently sitting seventh in the standings this year.

Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen have managed to rack up 29 points between them this season but the duo have been unable to get anywhere near Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull, who are first, second and third in the table respectively.

The gap to the three leading teams has been clear to see this term and Haas says it is rather confusing and depressing to see his side unable to challenge for podium finishes or victories.

"I think we have two good drivers right now, they've both scored points, the car's very good," he told Autosport. "But the real cloud that hangs over us is the fact we're one to two seconds [a lap] off the fastest cars.

"Quite frankly we don't understand [how] we can be that far off with what we consider to be state-of-the-art equipment. Other than the top three teams, everybody's in that boat.

"That to me is probably the biggest problem right now, that the top three teams are light years ahead of everybody else. They are also the teams that develop their own engines, transmissions and chassis, so there's an inherent advantage in doing that.

"How do we overcome that? Quite frankly there's no answer to that, which is really depressing."