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Guenther Steiner has confirmed Haas has now switched to a ‘Red Bull-style’ aerodynamic concept after realising it could make no further gains with the car in its former guise.
For its home race this weekend of the United States Grand Prix at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, Haas will unveil a whole new aerodynamic package on its VF-23s, applying the ‘downwash’ bodywork the majority of the teams now favour.
Downwashing incorporates wide sidepods from which there are ramps that provide airflow toward the rear of the car.
Haas has now revised its entire bodywork which includes floor, engine cover, sidepod inlet, sidepods, quarter panel, and padding gills as the team heads in a new direction compared to the past 20 months following the introduction of new aerodynamic regulations at the start of last year.
In addition, for the final five grands prix of this year, the package will help steer the direction the team will need to take going into next season.
“The upgrade on the VF-23 is aerodynamic,” confirmed team principal Steiner.
“We changed the concept of the car because what we started with, because of the new regulations last year, we couldn’t make any more gains performance-wise.
“Creating more downforce and less drag, it just wasn’t there anymore, so we needed to change the concept to which is commonly known as the ‘Red Bull concept’ or the ‘downwash concept’.
“It is a substantial update, and we’re able to do this within the cost cap because we didn’t have any updates at the beginning of the season because again, going back, we couldn’t find any performance that we could make parts to put on the car.”
Drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg are naturally now hoping for “a big improvement”, according to the Dane, and an end to its woes this season, notably suffering high tyre degradation when in traffic,
Although not expecting miracles, Magnussen added: “There’s actually a second element to bringing this upgrade which is to research for next year.
“We’re all secretly hoping it performs better than what we currently have but actually the bigger target with this is the research and the learning we can do for next year’s car.
“It’s been clear that in very specific circumstances our car can perform, but it’s too narrow a window and we need to broaden it, make it more user-friendly and compliant with a bigger variety of tracks and conditions.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to follow easier and be more friendly to tyres.”
It has not been an easy return to full-time racing for Hulkenberg this season following a three-year lay-off bar a sprinkling of cameo appearances, with the German finishing in the points in just one of the 17 races to date.
Looking ahead to the updates, which he claims are “highly anticipated”, he added: “It’s been a long time coming and it’s aimed to improve our performance, characteristics, and the weaknesses of the car we’ve found which has made us struggle especially on Sunday.
“It’s to help tyre wear, consistency, and better performance. Hopefully, there’s a big jump in performance, but also, we need direction for next year, where we’re going to go with this car, which philosophy we’ll follow and which direction to take.”
In addition to the bodywork, the cars will also feature a special-edition ‘Stars & Stripes’ themed livery that includes the tagline ‘We The People’, the opening line of the United States Constitution
