Reviewing the spectacular Haas VF-22 performance in Bahrain, as Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen rose the team on the timesheets


Reviewing the spectacular Haas VF-22 performance in Bahrain, as Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen rose the team on the timesheets

Pietro Fittipaldi's Haas in action

Haas F1 Team has been in the headlines for days now. And the reasons aren’t pretty looking for the team and could never be for any team. The team faced an unprecedented challenge following the war between Russia and Ukraine. They terminated the contract of their main sponsor- Uralkali, and the Russian driver- Nikita Mazepin.

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However, the team signed their ex-driver Kevin Magnussen as the replacement, and that bet seems to have fared off well for the team and the boss Guenther Steiner, who decided to bring back Kevin and not promote the reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, as it was speculated. Kevin, along with Mick Schumacher, on the second and the third day, seemed to have found some pace in the Haas VF-22, setting some great times on the board.

The team managed, after suffering a setback with its shipment, to get extra hours on the track. In those hours, on day 2, Kevin Magnussen put up flying laps and finished highest on day 2 with three-tenths ahead of second-place Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. While on the third day, Mick Schumacher finished second five-tenths behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Haas’ improvement from the previous seasons

Haas' VF-22 in Bahrain
Haas’ VF-22 in Bahrain

Going into the 2021 season, Haas said that they won’t be developing their car for the last season of the hybrid era but would instead focus on the development of their 2022 car, the VF-22. Hence, this year is said to be a pivotal year for the team after a disastrous 2021 season.

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The team has finished as high as P5 in the constructors’ championship, but as the tables turned they had found themselves at the bottom of the championship. VF-22 seems to be the hope for both the team and the budding driver Mick Schumacher. The team was inconsistent in Barcelona, where they completed only 160 laps over three days, filled with issues. Whereas in Bahrain, they completed 253 laps over the same span. This clearly showed the development made by the only American team on the grid.

Haas, whenever on the track, looked quick, just like McLaren did. If the team manages to find continuous pace and consistency with the engine, they might find themselves challenging for the mid-field in their comeback year itself. Kevin Magnussen’s F1 experience will surely help Mick find his pace and be more consistent. With the opening race only a week to go, we can’t be excited enough to see what Haas has in store for us.

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