Formula 1 team Haas faces a risky decision: update or no update? The reasons behind the technical gamble in late summer Formula 1
Some Formula 1 teams are already noticeably scaling back development of their current cars. But US racing team Haas has other plans: “At the moment, we’re still working on bringing another upgrade – if it’s good enough to justify the expense,” explains Jonathan Heal, the team’s deputy chief engineer.
Haas is currently in the “final phase” of planning technical innovations for its home race in Austin, Texas – the sixth-to-last race weekend of the year.
“We traditionally try to bring a package for this race. It’s late in the season, but when you break down development into race segments, it fits into our cycle,“ says Heal. ”We brought an update to race twelve, so race 19 – seven races later – is the next logical time for a bigger package, especially on the underbody.”
What the Austin update depends on
However, the new parts are not set in stone yet: “We are subject to budget constraints, so the cost factor plays a major role,” explains Heal. “There are many parts that are designed but never make it onto the track because their advantage in the wind tunnel is not enough to justify the cost of producing new parts.”
Yet every second gained is potentially worth its weight in gold in Formula 1. “A tenth of a second can mean five places on the grid this year,” says Heal. This increases the temptation for teams not to stop development on the current car prematurely – because there are still points to be won in the second half of the season.
“Sometimes it’s just better to focus on the current championship year,” says Heal. “Next year will be a bit of a lottery for many reasons, for example because of the engines. So it’s important for us to do well this year.”
What the development has achieved so far
Especially since Haas has successfully worked its way out of a slump: At the season opener in Melbourne, Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon finished at the back of the grid. Now Haas is at least in second-to-last place in the constructors’ championship, within striking distance of a broad midfield group including Aston Martin, Racing Bulls, and Sauber.
“We spent a lot of time analyzing the bouncing and the problems we had with the car at the time,” explains Heal.
“With the help of the new measurement data we were able to obtain from this, we have further developed the car for the future. I think this means we now understand the car better, which has an impact on all our current development work.” And on whether or not Haas will upgrade the VF-25 again.
