Formula 1 returns this week after an extended three-week absence, with the United States Grand Prix. One of the major storylines to follow down the final six race weekends of the season? The battle between Haas and Visa Cash App RB F1 Team for sixth place in the F1 Constructors’ Championship. At the moment VCARB holds a three-point lead in that fight, but with six Grands Prix remaining, as well as a trio of F1 Sprint Races, Haas will have several chances to close that gap.
They will also have some help starting this weekend in Austin.
Haas confirmed on Tuesday that they are bringing a major upgrade package to Austin for the USGP, focused on the floor and bodywork of the VF-24.
“In Austin we’re bringing our main update for the final part of the season which will mainly involve another step of development in the floor and bodywork,” said Technical Director Andrea De Zordo in the team’s media preview. “The target, as always, will be to improve aero load in order to make the car faster. It’s difficult to be making a big step in lap time, so we’re speaking about small numbers, but in the tight midfield fight everything is an important step, and we hope to deliver. This is a development and further evolution of our package, not something new although the car will look a bit different.”
Haas also unveiled a special livery for the United States Grand Prix, one of the American-based team’s home races:
Both Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg indicated how much they were looking forward to racing in front of the team’s hometown fans.
“The United States Grand Prix is definitely one of the highlight races of the year for us; we have a lot of American partners, and of course our home fans,” said Hülkenberg. “It’s a race where the fans are very knowledgeable about F1 and it’s really motivating to see the support of more than 400,000 people during the weekend. We have another update to bring this race and it’s a Sprint weekend, so every lap will count out on track.”
“I’m looking forward to our home race, obviously it’s a big race for us, and one where there’s some extra keenness to do well. COTA is a great track and it has some of the biggest crowds of the year, it’s a massive event,” added Magnussen. “We’ve had good and bad races there, but hopefully we should be pretty strong this year as it’s a medium-downforce track, and that tends to suit us. I’ve had some good battles there in the past and I’m hoping to score points.”
Haas has certainly been busy in recent weeks, having announced a pair of partnerships in the break between the Singapore Grand Prix and the United States Grand Prix. On the technical side, Haas announced a new “technical relationship” with TOYOTA GAZOO, under which the team and Toyota’s motorsport division will work together to speed up Haas’ technical development.
Then on Monday Haas announced a new multi-year partnership with Orion180, which begins this weekend in Austin.
