Haas has become the first team to reveal its new car for the 2020 F1 season.
Images of the VF-20, the team’s fifth Formula 1 car, were published by the team today.The car’s livery has reverted to the team’s grey and red colours from its first appearance in the championship four years ago.
“I’m pleased to see the car return to the more familiar Haas Automation colors,” said team owner Gene Haas. “It’s certainly a livery that people identify with.”
The team is seeking to revive its fortunes following a disappointing 2019 campaign, which saw it sink to ninth in the championship.
“Frankly, I’m hoping the VF-20 will return us to the kind of form we ran in 2018 when we finished fifth in the constructors’ championship,” said Haas. “2019 was a tough season to endure.
“We’ve been through a real education process, one that comes to all Formula 1 teams at some stage. I’m trusting we’ve learned from those lessons and have applied that knowledge into making the VF-20 a more competitive entry.
“It’s important to me that we’re back in the mix and consistently scoring points, we certainly have the capability and we’ve proved as an organisation we can do it.”
[smr2020test]Team principal Guenther Steiner believes the team has learned from its difficult 2019 campaign. “Undoubtedly the VF-20 has to deliver where our previous car didn’t,” he said.
“With the regulations remaining stable into this season, it’s allowed us to improve our understanding of the car and to scrutinise ourselves more in order to find solutions and applications to channel into the design of the VF-20.
“Last year was definitely a setback, one I would never have asked for, but you learn from such situations – we all have. Everybody at the team was forced to look at themselves and understand what they can do better.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the VF-20 make its track debut. As always in testing, you want many things, but lots of mileage, reliability and speed would be welcomed as we ready ourselves for the first race in Australia.”
Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean will remain the team’s drivers for the fourth year in a row.
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Pictures: 2020 Haas F1 car
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Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
6th February 2020, 14:02
Much better livery than the black and golden from last year, in my opinion! Of the car itself, not very much to say with only one picture.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
6th February 2020, 14:08
@gordess Certainly looks like a better execution of their colours.
But the more important thing is that, unlike last year’s car, it goes well at tracks besides Catalunya and Melbourne…
Miguel Sampaio (@gordess)
6th February 2020, 15:55
Agreed @keithcollantine! Here’s hoping they have a better year than last. That would make the midfield battle even more interesting than 2019’s!
Duncan Snowden
6th February 2020, 17:32
Yes, when I realised they’d be going back to, well, Haas colours, my heart sank. But that has a touch of the West-McLarens about it, which isn’t a bad look. (Actually, with that red chevron on the nose, it would probably have looked more “McLaren” back in ’97 than the real West livery did.)
The car itself doesn’t look terribly exciting, though. Let’s hope, for their sake, it works better than last year’s.
gardenfella (@gardenfella72)
6th February 2020, 14:03
Nice to see the 2019 Ferrari making an appearance this year
MehowHD
6th February 2020, 14:21
Funny I instantly saw the resemblances to the SF90
grat
6th February 2020, 16:14
Yeah, I suppose if your eyesight is bad, and you don’t bother comparing details, it looks much like the SF90.
I mean, other than the front wing, the sidepods, the bargeboards… it’s very similar.
Which kind of makes sense, since most of the interior components are the same size and shape.
Pete (@repete86)
6th February 2020, 14:37
I wasn’t buying the “Haas are running last year’s Ferrari” conspiracy theories in the past, but there’s no denying that this is a 2019 Ferrari.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
6th February 2020, 17:25
@repete86 No denying? Watch me. In every meaningful sense which means listed parts that are the performance differentiators and sharing which is prohibited this is nothing like the sf90. It does look quite similar around the engine area and the mid chassis which is to be expected and isn’t banned in the rules
Pete (@repete86)
6th February 2020, 17:48
@montreal95 k
Adam (@rocketpanda)
6th February 2020, 14:04
Actually, I really like that! That looks excellent!
RB13
6th February 2020, 14:05
Loads of pictures on Twitter. Highly aggressive rake on the car and the livery certainly looks nice under shiny studio lights, may look a little budget on track but hope I am wrong on that!
James (@knewman)
6th February 2020, 14:58
I was wondering if the rake is really that aggressive or if it’s just a trick of the lighting/colors
Shimks (@shimks)
6th February 2020, 14:11
Ooh, look: on Twitter they have left and right arrow functionality so that you can move easily from picture to picture.
thepostalserviceisbroke (@thepostalserviceisbroke)
6th February 2020, 14:36
Hahahahahaha I’ve told @keithcollantine this at least once before. Make your website UI more user friendly!
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
6th February 2020, 15:38
@thepostalserviceisbroke it’s been years and I’ve made my share of suggestion posts. There’s no trace of improvement and I fear we’ll have the same old UI problems this season too. So just today I’ve decided to stop supporting the website and gradually move somewhere else. It’s really sad, to be honest.
pastaman (@)
7th February 2020, 1:48
Yeah, and when you click on the first thumbnail, it actually goes to the first picture in the gallery. Imagine that!
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
6th February 2020, 14:24
Better than the last year’s but no matter what Haas tries, it always looks conservative and boring. Hope it will look better on th track.
RB13
6th February 2020, 14:30
it’s really not that bad, almost retro in execution and sponsors will LOVE it, every logo will pop.
As mentioned above the colours and gloss black sections look pretty great under studio / rendered lighting but may look quite different on track (except Singapore but Grosjean will be out on lap 1 there anyway so we wont get much chance to see it)
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
6th February 2020, 15:46
I just didn’t express it well; the livery itslef looks very good and I appreciate the return of white/black/red sidepots which are in my humble opinion really iconic. The shapes of the car, on the other hand, don’t flatter the paintjob very well and I can imagine cars like last year’s McLaren doind far better job in accentuating the livery. I don’t like this decade of squared, almost neolithic chassis and I hope it will soon come to an end.
Jon Bee
6th February 2020, 14:35
How much longer can Haas survive without a major sponsor? I can’t understand why they’ve not got a US company backing them. Liberty should be helping Haas to become a US team, it would raise the profile of F1 in their country. Perhaps help them get more races in the US, if they Americans can see they’ve got their own team in the event.
Miani (@miani)
6th February 2020, 14:46
Haas itself is the major sponsor.
Kelvin (@kelvin38)
6th February 2020, 15:48
Haas CNC should have no problem with covering the bill.
If they get sponsors it will pretty much be laid on top of their current budget as far as I understand it.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th February 2020, 15:49
Just made me think… At CotA, they should replace the black on the car with blue, and run the car with red/white/blue. Slap a few white stars on to make it more obvious as well.
Hans Herrmann (@twentyseven)
6th February 2020, 14:53
I know white isn’t very flattering but it’s not very tightly packaged at the rear.
Bruce Lix (@mblix)
6th February 2020, 15:06
Yes, from the top, the coke bottle appears a bit a pear shaped. I hope that’s not a harbinger for the season.
Patrick (@anunaki)
6th February 2020, 15:37
I like it. Although I must admit I’m craving the new season so much I’d like almost everything at this moment. :D
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th February 2020, 15:46
In terms of looks, I’d rate this their best. A big improvement over their black and gold, and a huge relief to see none of the boring very they were fans of previously.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
6th February 2020, 17:52
Thanks, swipe keyboard!
Jere (@jerejj)
6th February 2020, 16:22
A cool-looking livery, better than that of the team’s first three seasons.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
6th February 2020, 17:11
As a fan of F1 racing, I’d like to think Haas will do well this year. If the claims this car is really an incognito Ferrari SF90 are true, then this is a race winning car. It just doesn’t seem right to sound pessimistic before the season has started, so I hope the skills and hard work combine to produce some excellent results for Haas.
Rick D. (@partsguy20)
6th February 2020, 18:31
Maybe that’s why Vettel spun out so much. It wasn’t bad driving on his part, he was just testing how it would behave with Grosjean behind the wheel!
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
6th February 2020, 19:51
…backmarkers in F1 and used in every other racing series in the world by dozens of teams thus making the livery unremarkable and boring, void if any recognisable history associatable to this particular team.
Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
6th February 2020, 21:21
I’m not a fan of past Haas liveries and colours, but that is a nice execution of their brand.
Hopefully the performance is a similar step in the right direction.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
7th February 2020, 14:24
I agree. Possibly their best looking car ever. I hope it goes well for them.
Cristiano Ferreira
7th February 2020, 2:16
This livery is good, its simple and beautiful, just like the 2016 one but this one is a bit better. For F1’s sake i hope they do well with this new car or else Haas might leave F1.
DavidH
7th February 2020, 10:27
Team wants to be a success. Team retains the same drivers that keep messing up. Grosjean especially. Hmmmm.