Haas will give Esteban Gutierrez a new chassis for the Bahrain Grand Prix after his first car was damaged in his crash with Fernando Alonso in Melbourne last week.
“Some of the parts, for example the chassis, were sent back to Europe to be checked and fixed because we can’t do it onsite in Bahrain,” explained team principal Guenther Steiner.
“We have enough spare parts to build up another chassis, so we will use that. Then the chassis that is repaired will be sent to Bahrain via air to serve as our spare.”
“The guys will have to work day and night to get to Bahrain, but it’s all do-able. Our spare quantity is down, but we have enough to get going again, so we will just keep on working.”
The team has a reduced supply of spare parts for its VF-16 after Romain Grosjean was hit by Rio Haryanto in the pit lane during final practice, damaging his car’s floor.
An unusual feature of the team’s first race was that Grosjean achieved a sixth-place finish without needing to make a pit stop. He made his mandatory switch to a different tyre compound during the race suspension.
“We didn’t complain that we didn’t have to do a pit stop in Australia,” Steiner said, “but we will have to do it in Bahrain, for sure.”
“We will do a lot of things during practice in Bahrain to ensure that we are ready. We got away with not doing pit stops in Australia, but we won’t be able to in Bahrain. The focus will be on completing pit stops this weekend so the team goes into the race confident that they have trained properly.”
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Strontium (@strontium)
27th March 2016, 10:34
Presuming Alonso will be keeping the same chassis, his didn’t look to bad
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
27th March 2016, 10:44
I thought the opposite. When I saw the amount of times it tumbled and all the electrical cables from the underside of the car I thought the McLaren was a near write off.
pastaman (@)
27th March 2016, 18:10
It’s a joke, man
Marc Thielke (@motor)
27th March 2016, 22:57
I have become a fan of the Scot’s sarcasm.
Wesley (@)
28th March 2016, 22:17
(@drycrust) You actually thought Strontium was serious?? wow
Sergey Martyn
27th March 2016, 11:27
Yeah, nothing major, just bolt the new wheels – won’t affect the speed anyway! ^-)
RaceProUK (@)
27th March 2016, 12:46
Given the violence of the accident, I’d be very surprised if he keeps the same chassis
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
27th March 2016, 18:18
+1
Phylyp
27th March 2016, 21:12
Just a dab of polish, that’s all that’s needed for Alonso.
Rick
27th March 2016, 21:44
Hey, he added lightness!!!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
28th March 2016, 0:57
Shunts and fires don’t hurt engines in f1, only in real life.
Pablo
27th March 2016, 11:07
I think that was sarcasm :-)
Robbie (@robbie)
27th March 2016, 13:04
Lol and he beat me to it. It was the first thought that popped in my head when I read the headline.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th March 2016, 11:44
Given that their plan is to repair the old one and use it as a spare I assume this is mainly precautionary, but nonetheless I am surprised to be reading that headline as the damage appeared minimal.
anon
27th March 2016, 14:36
It is in most likelihood a precautionary change rather than an enforced one, as Haas probably wish to carry out further non destructive testing to determine the effectiveness of their repairs that cannot be easily carried out in the field.
grat
27th March 2016, 17:26
If I had to guess (and I do!), I would guess at least some of the suspension points were ripped out.
It’s also a good opportunity to tear down a chassis that’s got some miles on it, to get an idea of how the other chassis will fare as the season goes on. The one area Haas can’t get much help from Ferrari on, is how their tub is going to hold up during the season.
Woody (@woodyd91)
27th March 2016, 13:43
I’m surprised there was actually chassis damage from the impact the Guiterrez suffered. Although they are only replacing it because they cant repair it quick enough during the fly aways. So could just be something small. I would be surprised if it was anything else.
Graham (@guitargraham)
27th March 2016, 14:25
new shorts for alonso
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
27th March 2016, 18:07
hahahahahaha….. or brown ones? just in case
josh
27th March 2016, 18:27
I’m looking forward to seeing what Haas can do in Bahrain. I’m really just trying to figure out why Ferrari are so high on Gutierrez.
Manox (@marussi)
28th March 2016, 16:50
Money.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
28th March 2016, 23:43
Surtenly they need a good driver more than money?
joe jopling (@jop452)
27th March 2016, 20:53
The speed difference may have been quite substantial when Alonso hit the back of the HAAS….and could have twisted the HAAS Chassis…..But I was concerned that the Honda engine may have been damaged…but not heard anything eitherway….cannot have done it any good ……
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
28th March 2016, 1:08
@jop452 All good on Alo’s and Rai’s engine, rai’s turbo is a goner. Don’t ask me how, but that’s what was reported shortly after the race.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
28th March 2016, 12:48
@jop452 @peartree Alonso lost both engine and chassis in the crash.
https://www.racefans.net/2016/03/20/alonso-doesnt-blame-gutierrez-crash/
Baron (@baron)
28th March 2016, 13:02
A carbon fibre chassis twisted? I don’t think so. Cracked, delaminated maybe, but ‘twisted’ highly unlikely.
Jerejj
27th March 2016, 21:18
I don’t really understand this at all: the monocoque (chassis/survival cell) of Alonso’s car survived almost entirely (according to his words) while Gutierrez’s car didn’t get much damage at all compared to Alonso’s car, and another example: Toro Rosso didn’t change the monocoque of Sainz’s car last year in Sochi between FP3, and QLF despite his car sustaining much more damage compared to Gutierrez’s, and same with Perez in Hungary FP1 last year, so I don’t understand the need to change a monocoque to another copy after so little damage.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
28th March 2016, 1:11
Not all chassis are the same nor are the crashes. One common problem with chassis integrity is the suspension mounts, so maybe Alonso damaged the right rear corner of the chassis. On the other hand, Haas didn’t say the chassis was a write off, Haas sent it away for repair, deciding to use a new one making sure the car can run and then fix the 1st chassis for later use.
Jerejj
28th March 2016, 8:55
”Haas didn’t say the chassis was a write-off, Haas sent it away for repair, deciding to use a new one making sure the car can run and then fix the 1st chassis for later use.” – Yes, I know, but still both confusing and weird at the same time.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
28th March 2016, 8:32
Little tester for a new team, never mind the brutal schedule of overseas races they’re faced with anyway, early in the season. It’ll be good work if they can run smoothly through this. There’s fewer things to hit in Bahrain!