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While the first quarter of the 2021 season has been exciting at the sharp end of the grid, with six different builders taking the podium in so many races, things have been a little more predictable behind the field, with American Haas rooted to the end of the pecking order.
This is not surprising for those on the team. Last year’s owner Gene Haas and team manager Guenther Steiner decided not to develop the VF-21 this year (in addition to being legalized by making the required floor changes) as the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world and hit all teams, especially Haas.
It came at a time when Gene Haas was weighing whether to stay in the sport at all or not, after seeing his team go downhill quickly after the fifth top in 2018. In this sense, spending was stopped altogether. In the wind tunnel, parts were tested, many of which had real potential, but could not be put into production due to a freeze on spending.
The team also halted this year’s car development. Because 2019 was pretty awful, they ended up with P9 points by 28 points after spending too much resources on an update they found too late in the wrong direction – newcomers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin are competing in a car with a lot of similarities the team used two years ago , and then driver Romain Grosjean called him an ass.
Endangered
When Gene Haas decided to put the pen on paper and commit Haas to sports for the next five years, he opened the financial taps. But this happened far too late in 2020 to have a significant impact by 2021, so they decided to take the pain this year and put everything they’ve gotten into the new season cars.
We knew this year was going to be a difficult year because we had to end our program last year because of a pandemic and because the company was in a rather difficult situation, said Ayao Komatsu, the chief engineer of the competition, when we discussed in Baku. It meant starting from working on this year’s car so late.
“It’s not like we had a competitive car last year, so the thinking was OK, we have a big regulatory change for 22. If we try to develop this year’s car, we can improve performance, but can we justify the impact on 22? Simply not. So we decided to reduce We know that this year is a year of transition, we have to deal with what we have, and pump everything into the car for years to come.
Even focusing on 2022, it doesn’t guarantee a big jump on the field, as all the other teams are also aiming to make a big jump. We’re still lagging behind for some reason next year, and even as we focus 100% on the car of the coming years, Komatsu added. Does it put us back in the middle or not? I don’t think it’s going to be that easy. We start with the endangered position.
Focus on the positive
You can expect morale to be low, but the team will do their best to show the positive side. First, the team still exists, and they know this year is just a way to achieve it. It relieves pressure and they can use the time to sharpen areas they may be affected by, such as processes and functions.
It’s very tough, Komatsu said. As a new team, we progressed steadily in 2016 and 2017 and in 2018 we won the P5 championship. So everyone thought we could improve constantly. Then we had 2019, when we went in the wrong direction with development and we really pay for it.
We knew this year was going to be hard, but I’m trying to tell everyone what we can do better? Every weekend we have to look at something from which we can take positives from it. Last year, our pit stopped very well, but we can focus on improving without substantial money. We can focus on working with two new drivers, trying to get the most out of them, trying to get them to understand the behavior of the car, and trying to improve where we can.
Free preview: F1 TV Tech Talk – Haas listed parts
Welcome to the challenge
Switching Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen’s experienced set of drivers with 298 races to a whole new zero race under their belt was a bold move. But it was necessary. The team decided to essentially abandon this current campaign and use it instead for a bed for Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher, allowing them to set foot under the F1 table without pressure while taking the huge financial benefits of both signatures.
They get funding from Mazepins billionaire father Dmitry to put him in his seat, as well as another piece from one of his companies, which is the team’s title sponsor. Schumacher joins Ferrari’s support as part of their driver academy, while his famous name has successfully attracted at least two new sponsors to the outfit.
It’s been challenging, but in a good way, said Komatsu of running a rookie lineup. For both, each weekend has something they can learn. If you have a driver who has been on the podium regularly, they expect the car to be decent. Getting this car would be very frustrating.
“Of course Mick and Nikita love a better car, but it’s not the end of the world yet. They’re just focused on getting the most out of the package. The pressure is off for them because they’re not in the limelight. They can’t fight for points or podium. They can focus on improving themselves, to learn a car, to learn to use a session, to look at information and to work with engineers.
Walking before they can run
At some point, however, the pressure will be on the drivers and the team. A lot is expected of them next year. While Gene Haas loves racing, he wants a return on his investment. But with the introduction of a large amount of new funds (which will help them move closer to the budget margin) and the recruitment of new staff (such as technical director Simone Resta from Ferrari), the future looks brighter. The overhaul has begun and in many ways, as Komatsu suggests, just as they start from scratch.
We need to get back to the competitiveness that was in 2018, Komatsu said. During the pandemic and difficult times, we lost people, stopped some of the processes and went backwards. We need to reassess our situation this year. It’s almost like we’ve started building a new team now.
We have capable people, we have not been able to use them in the right way. We have not been able to provide them with the right tools. All new income goes into it to bring the team back. I’d like to walk before we can run. We know what we would like to do. We lack ideas, it’s just about prioritizing and putting the resource in the right place.
He added: We are excited. We don’t dream that we can suddenly put ourselves back in the middle of midfield. But about everything that happens at the factory in preparation for next year, it’s very exciting.
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