Since its debut season in 2016, Haas has discovered themselves caught in purgatory on the F1 grid. The lone American crew primarily based out of Kannapolis, North Carolina has had its justifiable share of ups and downs, with no scarcity of drama alongside the best way.
Their charismatic crew principal Guenther Steiner helped type Haas into the lovable underdog crew on the grid. Nonetheless, good outcomes not often materialized. Even once they did, the crew was unable to constantly ship those self same outcomes from race to race.
After ending final within the crew standings for 2023, majority proprietor Gene Haas determined to chop ties with Steiner, citing the crew’s lack of enchancment since 2016.
“Right here we’re in our eighth 12 months, over 160 races – now we have by no means had a podium,” Haas mentioned. “I’m not sitting right here saying it’s Guenther’s fault, or something like that, but it surely simply looks as if this was an acceptable time to make a change and check out a unique path, as a result of it doesn’t seem to be persevering with with what we had is absolutely going to work.”
Maybe essentially the most damning indictment on Steiner was the failed improvement technique the crew took in 2021. With F1 introducing a model new automobile for 2022, the crew determined to cease all improvement on the crew’s 2021 automobile with a purpose to place all their sources into making their new automobile a reputable contender.
The thought of brief time period ache for long run acquire backfired. Haas has completed eighth and tenth within the two seasons with the brand new automobile, scoring solely 49 factors mixed.
Acquainted Faces
For 2024, Haas is selling Ayao Komatsu, a former race engineer who is aware of the crew inside and outside. The hopes are that Komatsu’s engineering background offers the crew an improved method, permitting the crew to make the beneficial properties they so desperately want.
As for the drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg each acquired new contracts on the finish of 2023. They are going to be retaining their roles as they head into 2024.
Magnussen faces a considerable quantity of strain this season. Regardless of being with the crew for seven of the final eight seasons, he has been unable to ship the identical outcomes as newcomer Hulkenberg.
Hulkenberg, an F1 veteran, joined the crew in 2023 after taking a hiatus from full time driving. He instantly impressed along with his qualifying capability, inserting the Haas far greater on the grid than it ever deserved.
Within the face to face stats, Hulkenberg beat Magnussen in each qualifying and the race, by a margin of 15-7 and 13-9 respectively.
Whereas Magnussen is a core a part of Haas’ identification, it’s not out of the realm of prospects that Haas might look to interchange him with youthful expertise. The identical might even be mentioned for Hulkenberg, ought to he have a down 12 months. Haas is at the moment the one crew with each drivers being of their 30’s.
The Stress Is On
It’s clear that endurance is carrying skinny in Kannapolis. The firing of Steiner, who in some ways was the face of the crew, demonstrates this. The query might be whether or not or not this adjustments something.
The underside line is, if the automobile isn’t good, nothing else issues. Haas’ 2023 automobile featured a nightmarish quantity of tire put on, killing their race tempo and negating any qualifying heroics. Can this crew, which has not been in a position to make any substantial beneficial properties since their inception, actually be trusted to determine it out? Is the substitute of Steiner actually sufficient to spearhead a brand new period?
Solely time will inform. Plus, with Michael Andretti placing his greatest foot ahead so as to add his crew to the grid, the novelty of Haas being the one American crew in F1 might quickly be gone. Dropping that core a part of the crew’s identification might doubtlessly sink the crew additional into obscurity.
All this thought of, it’s protected to say 2024 might be an important 12 months in figuring out the way forward for Haas F1.
Featured picture courtesy of HaasF1Team.com
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