Haas say the decision to use their latest spec car was motivated by trying to avoid repeating the same mistakes with their 2020 design.
The American outfit was expected to dominate the midfield this season after a strong start in Melbourne, but instead, they have slumped to ninth in the Teams’ standings as problems with the tyres left them trailing on race pace.
In a bid to increase confidence and find solutions, Romain Grosjean reverted to the Australia-spec car for several races starting at Silverstone but from Spa, both drivers have used the most upto date car.
“[We did this] because we think it’s the best going forward, to understand better what not to do for next year,” Haas chief Guenther Steiner explained.
“That decision, we just reached it before the break, we met up in Maranello with the aero people and we came up with this solution.
“This is the best going forward, so we can learn and try to cure the problem that we have got.”
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With both Ferrari and Haas struggling to optimise tyre performance with their respective cars, it is leading to questions as to whether a change in philosophy is needed for 2020.
“I don’t want to discuss a baseline for next year otherwise we end up in the same position as we are now,” Steiner said.
“This [current car] gives us the most stable platform to learn what to do next year. We’re considering this as a baseline, so whichever way we go, with high and low downforce, this is the best platform to work with.”
Asked if Haas was giving up performance in an effort to be stronger in 2020, the Haas chief admits it is impossible to know for sure.
“We think this will be the most competitive one and learn the most from but we cannot prove it as we have nothing to compare it with,” he explained.
“This is the outcome comparing the two cars, this will be the best performing one as we can see it right now.
“We don’t know if we will bring more updates for the car. We don’t know yet.”
Grosjean, however, offered a different outlook, suggesting the Australia-spec car may yet return with the decision at Spa and Monza taken for technical reasons.
“It was a no-choice option because the low-downforce package is not runnable on the old car,” he said.
“I knew since before Silverstone that we had to run the new car here, and then we can decide for the next few races. So it doesn’t mean the Old Lady is not going to come back!!
“In Singapore, let’s see how that one behaves. Russia, most likely.”