Haas’s delayed aerodynamic upgrade will arrive at next week’s Canadian Grand Prix.
The team’s upgrade package was originally intended to arrive earlier in the season. Team principal Guenther Steiner described the new parts which will appear on the VF-18 in Canada.
“We’ve got quite significant changes – front wing, floor, and all the bargeboard area – we’ve made those updates,” he said.“A lot of people brought their upgrades to Spain. We decided to bring them to Canada to have a little bit more time, because we’re still a small team and cannot react as quickly as the big ones.”
The team also ran new power units during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, which they expect to gain a greater benefit from at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“The upgrades in the engines are small because they are so highly developed,” Steiner explained. “To find big gains is very difficult but, for sure, every time Ferrari gives us an upgrade, it is for a good reason, as it has more power.”
According to Steiner the team is still on-track to complete the season without exceeding the allocation of three power units per driver.
“You introduce your first replacement engine, basically engine number two, at about this point in the season. You use engine number one for FP1 and FP2, but not for FP3, as you put the newest engine in on Saturday morning for FP3, then for qualifying and the race.
“Right now, we are up to plan with our engine. If it all goes well, we should get to the end of the season without having to use a fourth engine and get a grid penalty.”
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Sush meerkat
31st May 2018, 14:22
Looks like Haas didn’t need the update for Spain
nase
31st May 2018, 17:31
That sounds like a terrible decision. In hindsight, they were so uncompetitive that they didn’t need to run any engines at all.
Sarcasm aside, I really wonder why they didn’t wait for another weekend. Monaco is the least power-sensitive track by a huge margin, and also a track where engine wear rarely becomes an issue. Judging from my armchair, if I had to make it through the season with only 3 PUs, I would’ve used the oldest PU available in Monaco, and only then would I have changed the component for the Montreal weekend, where power sensitivity and engine wear are on a completely different level. That’s the kind of weekend you want to tackle with a brand-new PU with plenty of mileage left. Granted, their PUs won’t be that exhausted after Monaco. But still …
I suppose they had good reasons for that decision. But these reasons are very far from obvious from an outside perspective.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
31st May 2018, 18:50
I agree that it does not follow the natural trend, which is to use the oldest engines on the circuits with lowest power demands.
One reason – I think that because it was a better spec, they wanted to use Monaco as a proving/shakedown run, with its lower stresses and demands. This might have even been at the behest of Ferrari, before the mothership brings the new engines for their own team.
Another reason – their engines were quite marginal, and rather than run the risk of a failure in qualifying on the old engine, they swapped in a new one.
Do bear in mind that there are no penalties, and they have an added set of engines in their pool of components, so there’s no downside apart from the additional mileage on the engine (but seeing as how they were puttering around, it wouldn’t really hurt).
Hairpin
31st May 2018, 19:20
How many engines from all the teams had engines that did not last six races ??
Neil (@neilosjames)
1st June 2018, 0:32
Hopefully these bits will stay attached to the cars.
Hairpin
1st June 2018, 7:25
My guess is it’ll be the FerHaasi. The new bits will certainly be Ferrari like maybe but its too late. Nothing but mobile chicanes for the American team. Unlikely for a win any time soon. The odds that 8 of the top 10 current best cars to all fail in one race is stinking remote.
Bridge Wilson (@gwbridge)
1st June 2018, 17:50
Sounds to me as if you just have a burr under your saddle for HaasF1. Did someone lead you on and tell you HaasF1 was about to start winning races? I can sense your pique. These guys are doing great for a team with a budget just over $100 million. Give them some of the handouts some other teams get and see how they do. They can start by taking the past championship money away from Williams and giving it to Haas based on performance.