Haas enters Formula 1 with the VF-16

Haas F1 main

Joining the grid this season is the ambitious Haas Formula 1 racing team with the new VF-16.

Gene Haas’s team is the first complete newcomer to the sport since the arrivals of Lotus, Virgin and Hispania in 2010.

Haas, who is a highly successful team co-owner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup in partnership with Tony Stewart, has recruited an array of experienced Formula 1 personnel headlined by ex-Jaguar and Red Bull Gunther Steiner as team principal.

It’s refreshing to see a new outfit on the grid. Especially an American based. It’s been 30 years since an US outfit last competed in Formula 1.

A fresh new challenge awaits the team in the upcoming season. Despite being newbies in the sport, Haas are hoping to make a mark on track by hiring two quality drivers to help build up confidence and speed.

Haas F1 side

Romain Grosjean and Esteben Gutierrez will lead Haas F1. The ex-Lotus driver is up for the challenge after many seasons with Team Enstone. As for Gutierrez, his Ferrari backing help secured Haas F1’s with solid power units.

Its affiliation with Ferrari is a key part of the team’s approach, with the relationship extending beyond an engine and powertrain supply to take advantage of rules that allow teams to run ‘non-listed parts’ from other squads.

That means Haas has been able to focus on its monocoque and bodywork design primarily, while taking most other components from Ferrari.

The team has taken over the former Manor facility in Banbury to give it a European base alongside its US headquarters in Kannapolis.

So an exciting new team making its debut this season. Hopefully more successful than USF1’s last attempt. Best wishes to Haas F1.

2 thoughts to “Haas enters Formula 1 with the VF-16”

  1. The Haas Formula 1 team reiterated its belief that it can score points in its debut grand prix racing season as it unveiled its VF-16 2016 design on Sunday.

    Recent F1 newcomer teams have struggled to make a mark – the squads that began life as Lotus and Hispania both folded without scoring, while Virgin/Marussia/Manor only has Jules Bianchi’s ninth place in the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix to show for its six seasons on the grid.

    But having sealed a comprehensive technical partnership with Ferrari, Haas has set its sights higher for the VF-16.

    Team principal Gunther Steiner said: “Our goal with this car is to score points.

    “First, we need to go out there and show that we can do the job, that we can finish races, that we are respected by the fans and other teams in the paddock.

    “Then, we want to score points. That is the ultimate goal.”

    Haas has made use of the recently-introduced ‘listed parts’ regulations to receive multiple components from Ferrari as well as an engine and powertrain supply.

    Its primary focus for its design has been the car’s monocoque and bodywork, with most other elements coming from Maranello.

    Steiner said the design inevitably therefore had Ferrari cues given the need to package the Italian team’s engine and other parts, but that Haas had generally tried to follow wider F1 design trends.

    “We’re a new team, so we looked at what the successful teams were doing to give us a baseline of the direction we needed to go with our design,” he said.

    “We have very experienced designers who worked hard to develop all the little things from an aerodynamic perspective that, collectively, add up to a lot.

    “And our technical partner, Ferrari, provided our power unit, and that really defined the rear end of the car and how big it needed to be.”

    The VF-16 designation has its roots in the VF-1 title given to the first machine manufactured by team founder Gene Haas’s CNC business in 1988. That title was chosen as an acronym of the phrase ‘very first one’.

    The team has opted for a grey, black and red livery for its F1 car in keeping with the colour scheme used for Haas’s Haas Automation firm’s products.

    Source: Autosport.com

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