2023 championship position: 10th, 12 points
Speedcafe’s 2024 championship prediction: 10th
Haas flattered to deceive last season with a car that was, at times, blistering over a single lap only to fade when it mattered.
The problem was tyre degradation combined with a car that proved unresponsive to developments.
There were suggestions early in the year of a promising campaign, but as the rest of the field improved it remained stationary in the development race and its season came undone.
Of the team’s four points finishes, three of the came in the opening five races of the year. No more need be said.
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That proved a problem for team boss Gene Haas who responded by opting not to renew Guenther Steiner’s contract as team boss.
Instead, Ayao Komatsu will lead the team from this season forth. And he faces a tough job.
Haas buys in what it can from Ferrari, meaning its potential is in some respects linked to the Scuderia’s but that is similarly no excuse – others have achieved better results with similar models, and last year’s Ferrari wasn’t a slouch.
It is known Haas will adopt a different approach to this year’s car.
Steiner has said as much and there was a half-step in that direction with the upgrade introduced in the latter part of 2023.
However, it’s a concern that it didn’t seem to offer the answers the team was hoping for and Nico Hulkenberg reverted to the older-spec design.
It was explained at the time that the new car offered nothing in the way of performance gains, but opened development avenues and produced its lap time in a different way.
While that makes sense, to a point, that now needs to translate into clearly identifiable improvements.
Knowing that, what can we logically infer heading into the season?
A sluggish start is likely.
The late change in direction and lack of clear step will have raised questions in the design offices (there are two; on in Maranello and another at Dallara).
Key to the year will be how the team develops and adds lap time.
The trouble is, with the convoluted structure of the team, that is a task more difficult than any other team.
It’s not impossible, but it is a big ask and for that reason it is difficult to see Haas making the strides it needs to lift itself off the bottom of the constructors’ championship.
That’s not to say it will be the slowest car at every race, but over the 24-event season, it’s likely to be the weakest of the 10 teams.
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