Haas holding off from upgrades for the Spanish GP
Follow Us
Guenther Steiner
Haas F1 team principal, Guenther Steiner recently revealed that Haas will not bring upgrades to the VF-22 for at least ‘four or five races’ Most of the time, the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is where teams bring their first major upgrades, and the venue is an extremely popular testing track. Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes are all said to be bringing upgrades to Spain.
Red Bull is believed to be set to hit an optimum weight in Barcelona, while Ferrari is said to be bringing at least a floor upgrade and a new diffuser to Spain, according to RacingNews365.com.
Affirming this, Guenther Steiner stated that: “Normally Spain is the obvious place to bring upgrades and I think quite a few teams are planning them.”
However, this is not the case for Haas, as they have decided to bide their time with the upgrades.
Steiner said: “We [Haas] have decided to wait a little bit longer with upgrades as I still think we have performance in the car without them which we have to get on the track, so sometimes we achieve it, sometimes we don’t.”
But Steiner has a good feeling about their next upgrade package. “We have a good upgrade package in about four or five races coming, so I’m confident about that and what the other ones are bringing, as of right now I don’t know, but I will know a lot more next Monday.”
Haas’ Disappointing Weekend in Miami
Haas drivers Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen qualified 15 and 16 on the grid respectively and failed to score points in Miami, despite Magnussen finishing in the top 10 at three of the four previous races of the season, with a very impressive 5th in Bahrain and points in both Jeddah and Imola. Haas’ misery was compounded by Mick Schumacher’s collision with German compatriot, Sebastian Vettel, while they were both running in the points.
Magnussen retired from the race late on in the race, due to front wing damage from contact with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. This was the Danish driver’s first DNF of the season. Steiner admitted that his team’s weekend was disappointing, but has backed them to bounce back with a stronger result in Barcelona. He said that:
“It was quite disappointing in both qualifying and the race, but we need to keep positive,”
He further added: “The positives are the car is good, we just need to get it on the right set-up, getting the tires to work properly and the car is right there.“
“As you could see during the race in Miami, we made up positions until the Safety Car came out, and then we fell back.”
Schumacher and Magnussen were running 11th and 12th respectively, until Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris’ collision brought out the safety car.
“That’s what you have to focus on – staying confident that we have a good machine and that we will make the points that we want to make.”
Haas are currently 8th in the constructors’ championship, with 15 points. All of the 15 points were scored by Kevin Magnussen.
Also Read: “It was the toughest race of my life,” Kevin Magnussen after a disappointing weekend in Miami
Also Read: Mike Krack blames Sebastian Vettel’s lost points on “overzealous Mick Schumacher”
Stay Updated!
FS Desk
(8023 Articles Published)