Source: Haas F1 Team Media

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Haas fear they could get caught out by 2019 rule changes

Haas fear they could get caught out by 2019 rule changes

05-01-2019 18:30
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has admitted that the American team could get caught out by 2019's regulation changes, as Steiner fears rival teams will discover something they don't.

The biggest change in the F1 cars in 2019 is the front wing. It has to be less complicated, meaning less downforce, but more importantly, cleaner air behind the car. This means if you're chasing a driver in front of you, you'll have a bigger advantage by staying in his slipstream.

That certainly wasn't the case in 2018. The front wings disrupted the airflow behind the cars so much that cars would often get out of the slipstream if they want to overtake.

Haas impressively finished fifth in the constructors' championship in 2018, and even had a real shot at beating Renault for fourth place, the so-called 'best of the rest' title behind the big three teams. Asked if the American team can replicate that kind of form in the upcoming season, Steiner wasn't so sure.

"Everything is on schedule as it should be," he told GPfans.

"It is like every year, you have some stuff which is a little bit behind but it's nothing abnormal. I'm confident we'll have a good car but I don't know how good the other ones are.

"We are happy with our numbers and what we do but with the new regulations, if somebody found something we are not aware of, how can I know that? But I'm pretty confident that we are doing a good job.

"We just need to do a good job like we did last year over the winter and bring a good car, there is no secret. Everyone will be trying to get that position.

"Last year if somebody had said Haas was going to finish fifth nobody would have believed it, and would have said how do you do it?

"I don't know how but you do your best and if nobody does a better job then that's where we end up.

"If we do a good job, which I think we do, but somebody else does that little bit more, they will be in front and we will have to live with that and just try to get them again. It's a development race."