Tag: haas

Haas F1 to address tire degradation with Zandvoort upgrades

The issue has had Haas F1 strong on Saturday and lacking on Sunday so far in 2023.

Haas F1 has done well for itself on Saturdays during qualifying, but the team has struggled during race day on Sundays — and they’re looking to curb one of the main reasons why coming back from summer break.

Haas’ Formula 1 team has suffered a considerable amount of tire degradation during race stints — similar to the adjacent Scuderia Ferrari — and is looking to fix it not only for this year, but in coming years, too. Italian publication FORMU1A.UNO reported Tuesday that Haas will bring upgrades to the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort to address the issue.

Here’s what team principal Guenther Steiner had to say about Haas’ coming upgrades:

“We have got some upgrades coming for Zandvoort on the brake ducts and front wing. But the team is working flat out to make some modifications to the car, which will be coming later on in the year. I can’t give an exact timeline because of the shutdown [during the summer break]. We keep on working, and there are two reasons for this. Firstly, to try and make the car go quicker as you always do with upgrades. But also to know the direction for the VF-24, which is as important, if not more important.”

So far, Haas’ best result in 2023 is 7th, which driver Nico Hulkenberg achieved at the Australian Grand Prix in April. Should Haas be able to get its issues on race day sorted out, the car’s qualifying pace could make it a candidate for a big jump in 2023.

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Haas sticking with 2023 development plan

Haas will continue developing its 2023 car to try and find solutions for its current weaknesses, with team principal Guenther Steiner admitting he’s unsure when to focus solely on 2024. A strong start to the season saw Haas score points in three of …

Haas will continue developing its 2023 car to try and find solutions for its current weaknesses, with team principal Guenther Steiner admitting he’s unsure when to focus solely on 2024.

A strong start to the season saw Haas score points in three of the first five races but it hasn’t added to that tally on a Sunday since then, with regular Q3 appearances — and one top-six in a sprint — being followed by challenging race pace. Steiner says some new parts brought to the Hungarian Grand Prix helped move the team forward slightly but that it still has issues it needs to address.

“In Hungary, the result looked worse than it was because we weren’t far from our competitors, but we were still behind,” Steiner said. “It’s not fantastic but it’s the right direction.

“To say whether it was the updates that gave performance or whether it was track specific, it’s very difficult to judge because of how mixed up the teams are getting and how close it is — it’s hard to come to a definitive conclusion on whether an update works. Our upgrade was small as we all know but what it promised to do, it did; it just wasn’t enough.

“Upgrades for this season will also be implemented on next year’s car and that’s why we’ve decided to continue with this year’s car development to really understand our problems and where we need to put effort into making the car better for next year. Right now, we’re developing both cars in parallel, and we don’t really know yet when we switch over only to 2024.”

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Kevin Magnussen finished 17th in Hungary, matching his best result since picking up a point in 10th place in Miami. While he says there are reasons to be optimistic for the future, the Dane expects some more tough races ahead.

“I think we’re getting an understanding,” Magnussen said. One thing is understanding your problem and the next is to find the solution to that problem. I think in general we need some more performance — there are some specific areas that we definitely are struggling in. Hot tires is one of them, but there’s several things that can influence that.

“So I think as a team we need to make a big step forward. I know that there’s some stuff in the pipeline that we can get excited about later on in the year, hopefully, but for now it’s just about being patient and doing every race weekend like you think you have a chance and try to grab any opportunity that you might get.”

Verstappen splashes to Canadian GP pole; Hulkenberg second

Max Verstappen sailed to pole position in a mixed-conditions qualifying hour ahead of shock front-row starter Nico Hulkenberg. The Dutchman had set a formidable benchmark early in a frenetic Q3 as heavier rain began to fall at the circuit with a lap …

Max Verstappen sailed to pole position in a mixed-conditions qualifying hour ahead of shock front-row starter Nico Hulkenberg.

The Dutchman had set a formidable benchmark early in a frenetic Q3 as heavier rain began to fall at the circuit with a lap of 1m25.858s.

Conditions were temporarily improving with all 10 cars on track despite the rain, and the identity of the second-quickest driver was changing rapidly. Esteban Ocon had the place first, followed by Fernando Alonso and then Hulkenberg, who clocked in 1.244s behind Verstappen.

Alonso was set to take the time back, but a red flag was called when Oscar Piastri crashed his McLaren at Turn 7. The Australian lost control of his car on exit, spinning around and rear-ending the barrier, with his right rear taking most of the impact.

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The red flag froze the order seconds after Hulkenberg set his time and just second before Alonso would have cross the line to beat it.

The rain arrived with greater intensity during the suspension, and although more than seven minutes remained when the track reopened, no one could improve in the increasingly wet conditions. That guaranteed Verstappen his 25th career pole and his fifth of the season.

“In the wet you just have to stay on top of all the conditions,” he said. “We just made all the right calls at the right time at the track to do the lap times, so I’m very happy to be on pole.”

But Hülkenberg’s second row stole the show, taking Haas’s best qualifying result since Kevin Magnussen’s pole position at last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

“It was a wild quali,” he said. “It was crazy. Changing conditions are tricky, especially around here with the walls so close.

“Obviously this is a bit unexpected. We can be very happy and proud — the team did a solid job. It was super smooth, so I’m very happy.”

The German was noncommittal about his Sunday target from so high on the grid, though.

“We’ll have to see,” he said. “Obviously the first row is nice, very sweet. Let’s see how long we can keep that.”

Alonso was satisfied to take third despite being second away from a front-row start and was hopeful of being able to challenge Verstappen in the race.

“I think tomorrow we have a chance to put some pressure,” he said. “Hopefully tomorrow [Red Bull] have to push a little bit more.”

Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and George Russell qualified fourth and fifth ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Carlos Sainz qualified eighth but will see the stewards later today for allegedly impeding Pierre Gasly in Q1 in an incident that ended the Frenchman’s qualifying session early.

The crashed Piastri was ninth fastest ahead of Alex Albon, who couldn’t set a time before the red flag. The Williams driver had been sensational throughout qualifying and was the first driver onto slicks in Q2, which saw him through to the pole shootout in top spot.

Charles Leclerc failed to make Q3 for the second race in a row after Ferrari mistimed the switch from slicks to intermediates early in Q2 as the track dried.

Leclerc asked to be switched to a set of softs early in the session but was overruled by the team; by the time he was allowed to use the slicks, he’d missed the best of the conditions, leaving him 11th.

Sergio Perez had an even worse time, missing Q3 for the third straight race and fourth time this season. The Red Bull driver’s day-long struggles with tire temperature meant the switch to slicks was unsuccessful, and he failed to string together a clean lap back on intermediates at the end of the segment. He qualified 12th, having qualified 11th and 20th at the last two weekends.

Lance Stroll survived a spin early in Q2 but couldn’t pull himself together for better than 13th ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas. Stroll, too,  will see the stewards for allegedly impeding Ocon.

Yuki Tsunoda qualified 16th but will face two stewards investigations, one apiece for impeding Leclerc and Hulkenberg.

Gasly ended the afternoon 17th after missing out on Q2 by 0.156s. The Frenchman was on course to improve his time when he came across a slow-moving Sainz in the braking zone for the final chicane, forcing him to cut the corner and abandon the lap.

“They should be banned for such a thing,” Gasly fumed over team radio. “I’m coming at 300 [kilometers per hour]. What the hell do they think?”

Nyck de Vries was 18th ahead of Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu, who caused a brief red flag early in the session for stopping on track before restarting his car and returning to pit lane.

Haas/Alfa Romeo talk only ‘introductory’

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says his recent meeting with Alfa Romeo’s CEO was only an introductory talk and there has been no discussion of any potential partnership at this stage. It was reported in Monaco that a meeting took place to …

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says his recent meeting with Alfa Romeo’s CEO was only an introductory talk and there has been no discussion of any potential partnership at this stage.

It was reported in Monaco that a meeting took place to agree a title sponsorship deal for when Alfa Romeo leaves Sauber at the end of this year, despite Haas already having a deal in place with MoneyGram. Steiner says he did meet with Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato but only to be introduced and he doesn’t know if there is any interest in partnering with his team in future.

“A lot of people are saying that (it’ll be a title partner) to me, but the only ones who haven’t told me that yet are Alfa Romeo!” Steiner said. “They are looking at what they are doing in the future, they came to see us to see how we are doing and it was an introduction, nothing else. I never met the CEO before in my life and we just got introduced, I think on the Sunday — I don’t even remember the day — in Monte Carlo. There was nothing to hide, we just said hello and that was it. I don’t know what they are doing in the future.

“MoneyGram is our title sponsor for now and for the foreseeable future. We’ve got a contract and they are very good to work with. We have got a very good relationship with them — they do a lot of activations as you guys saw, they are doing a very good job.”

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While Steiner admits he can’t rule out the possibility of a future deal, he says it all rests on what Alfa Romeo would want to propose.

“There is a possibility of a lot of things. I cannot rule it out but I cannot say this is happening because it is not my decision,” he said. “I don’t know what they want to do.

“I think they are looking what they want to do — that’s my feeling. I don’t know because I would never ask them.

“I don’t know (if the Haas name could be dropped like at Sauber) because we never spoke about this. So I don’t know, I don’t have an answer for that, because we haven’t discussed it with Gene (Haas team owner). Because there’s nothing on the table, therefore I don’t even think about it.”

Magnussen escapes penalty to keep ‘lucky’ P4

Kevin Magnussen says his fourth place on the grid for the Miami Grand Prix is lucky after escaping a penalty for an incident with Lewis Hamilton. In Q1, Hamilton touched the wall at Turn 17 as he avoided running into the back of Magnussen, who was …

Kevin Magnussen says his fourth place on the grid for the Miami Grand Prix is lucky after escaping a penalty for an incident with Lewis Hamilton.

In Q1, Hamilton touched the wall at Turn 17 as he avoided running into the back of Magnussen, who was going very slowly before starting a flying lap. Both drivers agreed the closing speed had caught Hamilton out but that as he was on an in-lap he wasn’t impeded, and Magnussen had a car ahead that led to him going slowly, so no further action was taken.

That confirmed fourth on the grid for Magnussen, who had put in a good first Q3 lap and then seen mistakes from Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc leave them behind him, as a Leclerc crash ended the session early.

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“Me and Lewis were both on a slow lap,” Magnussen said. “I was starting another lap. He was pitting, so I don’t quite understand what happened. I think he was a little bit under pressure timewise to get in to start this second run. So he was rushing in and I was starting a new lap.

“It feels good. You know, it’s an important race for us. Home race for the team, all our big sponsors are here this weekend. And this is a race we hope goes well – it’s one of those.

“I got a bit lucky. But I don’t feel bad about it.”

Magnussen also believes the new floor that Haas brought to Miami has helped the team be more competitive through all sessions.

“I think this weekend, we’ve just been strong consistently. Not only in terms of putting in lap times — if you look at the results from each session, it’s so good. But just the feeling was there from the very beginning. We put the car on track and it worked. We haven’t really touched it — a little bit tweaked — and I think that’s been really good. And then we brought an upgrade that worked, so yeah, happy P4 tomorrow, and hopefully we can finish it off and score some points.

“We put an upgrade on the car. We’ve got a new floor this weekend. That seems to have really helped. You know, track-specific. I think our car works a little bit better here and we got a bit lucky.”

The Dane would also welcome some wet weather to try and hold onto a big result on Sunday, with the likes of Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton and George Russell starting behind him.

“That could spice things up — I think I’d welcome that,” he said of the chance of inclement weather. “Of course, it’s always a little less wanted when you’re starting up front, but still, it’s fun if it rains. I don’t think we’re fourth fastest but it’s nice to finish (qualifying) a little further up than you have the speed (for), so you can just nicely fall back into your natural position and finish it off like that.”

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Magnussen feels Miami has taken F1 events ‘to the next level’

Kevin Magnussen believes the Miami Grand Prix is a race weekend that has taken Formula 1 events “to the next level” in terms of coverage and interest. Miami joined the F1 calendar last year on a 10-year deal, and has since been joined by Las Vegas …

Kevin Magnussen believes the Miami Grand Prix is a race weekend that has taken Formula 1 events “to the next level” in terms of coverage and interest.

Miami joined the F1 calendar last year on a 10-year deal, and has since been joined by Las Vegas as the sport increases its footprint in the United States. Both races have placed a big focus on activation and the fan experience, and Magnussen says it’s making a noticeable difference to the weekend’s demands from a driver’s point of view.

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“The Miami Grand Prix is one of these new races in the U.S. that kind of feels like a new type of Formula 1 event, where it’s taken to the next level,” Magnussen says. “It’s very unique, it’s very hyped, there’s a lot of new things about it and I also think the track is fun.

“There’s more activities during a U.S. Grand Prix weekend, being the only American team, plus having an American title sponsor. It’s also one of the races where we really want to do well in front of our home crowd, and also in front of many of our sponsor’s home fans as well.

“It’s the closest I get to a home race in a way, because there isn’t a Danish Grand Prix and the closest I get is the team’s home race and I count that as ours. Luckily we have three of those and hopefully we can do well at all three.”

Magnussen’s teammate Nico Hulkenberg didn’t race in Miami last season as he was without a race seat but the German says he got a taste for what to expect

“I will only explore the track on Friday in a Formula 1 car, but I did do hot laps around here in a road car and it seemed fun,” Hulkenberg said. “I’m looking forward to exploring it and learn the track as it’s quite technical and challenging for sure. The event was mega hyped, successful and I’ve never seen such a big paddock and grid like Miami during my time in Formula 1, so that looked pretty entertaining.”

The Haas drivers will be taking on a busy marketing and activation schedule around the race, with team principal Guenther Steiner saying it feels like an established event already given the focus on it for the U.S.-owned team.

“It feels strange as Miami’s only had one year but it feels like it’s been there a long time,” Steiner said. “Everybody’s looking forward to it because everyone did a good job last year. When you look at these events, there’s always room for improvement but I’m very positive as it’s one of those events where it’s great for the teams to come back.

“It was a great event last year and it will be a great event this year. There’s a positive buzz to it because the fans are really waiting for these events to come around.”

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Hulkenberg showing exactly why he was signed – Steiner

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says the opening three races of the 2023 season have effectively demonstrated why he wanted to sign Nico Hulkenberg. Mick Schumacher was replaced after two years with Haas in favor of the vastly experienced …

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says the opening three races of the 2023 season have effectively demonstrated why he wanted to sign Nico Hulkenberg.

Mick Schumacher was replaced after two years with Haas in favor of the vastly experienced Hulkenberg, the latter having not raced full-time in Formula 1 since 2019. Despite that, he’s hit the ground running by outqualifying teammate Kevin Magnussen at each race so far — reaching Q3 on two occasions — and picking up his first points with seventh place in Melbourne.

“That was the whole thing — how can we bring the team forward?” Steiner told RACER. “And Kevin is part of the team. I think it’s a motivation — not only for him (competitively), it’s also he can see that if he cannot find his setup he has got a very experienced teammate to lean on. And that’s what he’s doing.

“He was strong (in Melbourne), maybe not as strong as in Jeddah but he said it himself that in qualifying he made a mistake at Turn 6 on his Q2 lap and it didn’t work out. But he knew where it went wrong and the speed is there from the car and the drivers. If we continue like this there will be a race coming that both of them are getting into the points.

“It’s a very good feeling when you’re sitting there and you know that you can attack, you don’t only have to defend. You know you can attack and go out there to get something; it’s not like hoping that something goes wrong for somebody else — you know that you can do it with your own means.”

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With how regularly Haas is fighting for a top-10 result, Steiner believes the start of the season has shown the team to be close to the front of the chasing group behind Red Bull, Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari.

“We have to reiterate that we didn’t get lucky in a situation, like for example one of the McLarens got — (Oscar Piastri) finished eighth and had a little bit more luck than we had. But we showed in all the races now that we twice went into Q3 pretty dominantly, without luck. Everybody thinks we have to have luck but I think we’ve got the sixth-best car out there, at least. We make the point that we scored points in two of the three races and twice got through to Q3.

“I’m impressed by Nico, how quickly he adapted to the car and to the team, and always tries to get the best out of it. It’s not always possible because there is no midfield anymore, there is the four leaders and then the rest of the pack — there is nobody weak there anymore. We are fighting in there and at the moment we are fighting at the front end of that pack.”

Hulkenberg shaken by ‘nightmare scenario’ in Australian GP

Nico Hulkenberg says he had to escape a “seriously scary” moment in the Australian Grand Prix to pick up the first points of his return with a strong seventh place. Alex Albon crashed on the exit of Turn 6 early in the race, bouncing back onto the …

Nico Hulkenberg says he had to escape a “seriously scary” moment in the Australian Grand Prix to pick up the first points of his return with a strong seventh place.

Alex Albon crashed on the exit of Turn 6 early in the race, bouncing back onto the racing line on the apex of Turn 7 with gravel and dust surrounding his car. Hulkenberg was the second car on the scene after rounding the unsighted corner and admits he was scared by how close to a serious accident he came at the time.

“Holy moly,” Hulkenberg said. “That was seriously scary. I mean, thank God nothing happened but this is a nightmare scenario. You know, you’ve come around the blind corner in a street circuit. All I saw was a cloud of smoke and gravel flying around, and then only last moment I saw his car rolling back onto the track and I missed him not by that much. That could have been a really bad scenario.

“That was seriously scary and sketchy. That’s a bad example of a driver losing the car, crashing and coming back onto the track, and because there’s a gravel trap, there was dust, so you could not really see much.

“I think Pierre (Gasly) was in front of me — he was the first car, I was the second car, and no marshal in the world can react that fast. We didn’t have yellow flags; I just saw the cloud of dust and I saw gravel flying around, so I sort of didn’t take the ideal or normal racing line — I went a bit wider. But I think I still didn’t miss him by much though, I immediately shouted on the radio that we need a safety car.”

After avoiding Albon, Hulkenberg went on to finish seventh with a strong drive that had him in the top 10 throughout the afternoon, and although a protest attempting to revise the classification failed, he says his first points after three years away from full-time Formula 1 competition are a sign of how well he’s working with Haas.

“Woulda, coulda, shoulda… I mean, it was wild and a bit messy at times. I think we have to look through how everything happened and what the actions were. It was a lot of things happening; it was very dynamic. I had a super start — I think it was the third time around on softs and came through to P4 actually. A shame that there were a few incidents and they red-flagged it, otherwise it could have been a really strong result.

“But even before that, you know, I think we would have come home in P9 which is obviously not as good as well P7 or P4 or something, but still a lot of positive learnings again, and I take a lot of positives out of this race and forward.

“I feel a lot of good things happening still. I’m refreshed — I’ve got a good mindset, a very positive mindset. I’m feeling hungry — I really enjoy working with the team, exploiting the car, experimenting with the car, and we’ve got a very nice rhythm and momentum. That’s what we want to preserve now and take that into the next couple of races.”

Checo Pérez defiende a Mazepin tras expulsión de la F1

Mazepin alegó que las condiciones propuestas para asegurar su permanencia fueron ignoradas, Checo habló en su defensa

La escudería Haas confirmó lo que se venía rumorando, el piloto ruso Nikita Mazepin ya no es más parte del equipo y sale junto con el sponsor Uralkali, empresa de su padre.

A través de un comunicado, la escudería de Estados Unidos informó la salida del piloto y el patrocinador principal del equipo dejando vacante el asiento y la oportunidad de sumar un nuevo socio comercial.

“Haas F1 Team ha optado por terminar con efecto inmediato con el patrocinador de Uralkali y el contrato del piloto Nikita Mazepin. Como parte de la comunidad de la F1, el equipo está sorprendido y entristecido por la invasión de Ucrania y deseamos una forma pacífica para resolver el conflicto”, dice el comunicado de Haas F1 Team.

Previamente el mexicano Checo Pérez piloto de Red Bull, fue cuestionado sobre la situación actual y la inminente expulsión de su compañero Nikita Mazepin así como de la suspensión de los atletas rusos en todo el mundo a lo que el mexicano solo pudo expresar su descontento por la situación.

“Hoy en día el deportista ruso lo está pagando de cierta manera. No estoy de acuerdo con ello porque creo que el deportista no tiene la culpa de lo que está haciendo su presidente”, dijo Checo Pérez.

Mazepin alegó que las condiciones propuestas para asegurar su permanencia fueron ignoradas y no se respetó su buena voluntad de seguir un proceso que terminó por ser unilateral.

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El futuro del ruso Mazepin en la F1 está en el aire y aclara polémica

La escudería Haas no ha dado ningún aviso sobre el futuro del piloto pero ya retiró el patrocinio de la empresa rusa del padre de Mazepin

El conflicto armado entre Rusia y Ucrania ya afectó directamente al piloto ruso de la escudería Haas, Nikita Mazepin que en estos momentos desconoce su situación a futuro y acepta que no está en sus manos.

“A mis fans y seguidores: es un momento difícil y no tengo control sobre lo que se dice ni lo que se hace. Estoy eligiendo centrarme en lo que puedo controlar, trabajando duro y haciéndolo lo mejor posible para Haas. Mi más profundo agradecimiento por su comprensión y apoyo”. publicó Mazepin.

Y es que a temprana hora la escudería mostró su vehículo totalmente en color blanco sin el logotipo de su principal patrocinador, Uralkali de origen ruso y que incluso aportaba los colores de la bandera de Rusia al monoplaza rojo, azul y blanco.

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Hasta el momento la escudería no ha dado ningún aviso sobre el futuro del piloto que además es el hijo del dueño de la empresa de fertilizantes Dmitry Mazepin pero ya la escudería ha decidido retirar todo rastro del patrocinio en autobuses y prendas.

Por lo pronto la FIA ya decidió cancelar el GP de Rusia como primera medida impuesta ante la crisis sin precedentes que atraviesa el mundo.

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