Haas have become the first team to release images of their new livery for the 2020 Formula 1 season.
Having parted ways with former title sponsor Rich Energy last year, the American squad has returned back to their traditional colours of red, white and black, having run in black and gold in 2019.
The official launch of the 2020 car is not expected until February 19, on the first morning on pre-season testing in Barcelona.
But on their social media posts, Haas said they couldn’t wait any longer and now we know why!
This year, Haas is eager to make up for a torrid 2019 which saw the team slump to ninth in the Constructors’ standings after tyre and chassis issues led to a lack of race pace.
Such were the problems, the second half of last season was used to test variations of different specifications on the developmental cycle to try and find solutions.
Indeed, driver Romain Grosjean drove the car as raced in Melbourne rather than taking new parts because he felt it was a better overall package.
“As soon as the Barcelona race, when we brought the evolution to the car, I immediately said that there was a problem and that it wasn’t working,” he recently told Motorsport.
“At Paul Ricard, after qualifying, I told them that we had to stop concentrating on the tyres because that wasn’t the problem. There was another real problem with the car.
“That’s when the studies were more thorough, we realised that there was a real problem. It was a correlation problem between the wind tunnel and the track.
“What’s certain is that if I hadn’t said in Barcelona that the evolution wasn’t working, they would have continued in the same direction and this year it wouldn’t have gone well. That was definitely a positive point.”
Also Read:
- After seeing Haas rise, Magnussen doesn’t foresee a McLaren or Renaultesque slump
- Haas: Magnussen & Grosjean ‘couldn’t have done better’ with 2019 car
After the problems Haas faced, however, Grosjean admits the six days of testing in Barcelona this month will be vital.
“We’re not making a presentation, we’re just launching. We’re going to concentrate on the essentials and really get the best out of the car as quickly as possible,” said the Swiss-born Frenchman.
“We’re waiting to see how is the car on track, we have all the numbers from the wind tunnel. I think we’ve learned a lot from last year.
“We’ve tried to understand where the problems of correlation come from. We’ve tried to understand what we have done differently from others, and we’ve looked at the concepts around us.
“And then we’re going to wait for the first few laps in Barcelona to make sure that we measure everything that happens in the car and that we’re in line with the wind tunnel.”
