Haas was worried they might start this year’s races in a bad position, maybe even at the back. But things are better than expected. Out of the five teams at the back, Haas is in seventh place in the championship so far.
The biggest change at Haas isn’t about points, though. It’s about how the team feels and thinks. Drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg say the team has a new attitude. They don’t worry as much about the tires wearing out during races like before.
Magnussen said, “The fact that we can fight on Sunday is such a big thing. It’s a game changer.”
Hulkenberg agreed, saying, “It’s definitely that we’re in a different environment and world compared to last year.”
The big improvement comes from how the Haas car handles. It used to be tricky to drive, especially with the tires, but now it’s more stable.
“We flattened out the aero map, desensitizing the car,” explained Hulkenberg.
But making the car better for Sunday races wasn’t easy. It took a lot of work on both the aerodynamics (how the air moves around the car) and the mechanics (how the car is built).
Andrea de Zordo, the technical director, says they’ve made progress, but there’s still more to understand about the tires.
“It just happened like that, that for some reason you pay more during the race than during the qualifying or vice versa,” he said. “So this year the car is maybe a little bit better in the race, and it was probably a surprise also for us.”
They learned a lot from testing before the season started. It helped them understand how the car works over long distances and in different conditions.
“Now we really need to try to get upgrades onto the car,” said team boss Ayao Komatsu.
They’re planning to introduce some upgrades at the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend. It will be interesting to see how they do on a weekend with two qualifying sessions and two races.
