Haas team 'pumping everything into next year's car'

The season of the Haas team has been disappointing so far. They are last in the Constructors' Championship and drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin are often at the back of the grid. Still the team is positive about the future.

In 2018 the team still finished in fifth place, last year they were only ninth. Still, this is no surprise for the team. The current car will not be further developed, a consequence of both the pandemic and a lack of resources.

"It’s not like we had a competitive car last year, so the thinking was – ‘OK , we have a big regulation change for ‘22. If we try to develop this year’s car, OK we can improve performance but can we justify the impact on ‘22? Simply no’. So we decided to cut our losses. We know this year will be a transition year, we have got to deal with what we have got, and pump everything into next year’s car," Chief Race Engineer Ayao Komatsu told the official website of F1.

New drivers for Haas

Last year it was announced that Haas would drop their drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean for rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. A risk for the team, but a nice challenge: "For both of them, in every single weekend there is something they can learn. If you have a driver who has regularly been on podium, they expect the car to be decent. Having this car would be very frustrating. They are just focusing on getting the best out of the package. The pressure is off for them as they are not in the limelight, not fighting for points or podiums. They can focus on improving themselves, learning the car, learning how to run a session, looking at data and working engineers,” Komatsu said.

2022 will be an exciting season for the team, as much is expected. Gene Haas, the team's owner, loves racing, but he wants a return on his investment. So the team will have to show they can do it.