The Haas team is gearing up for the weekend in Nevada by differentiating the specifications of the VF-23. Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen will be involved in a sort of targeted comparative test aimed at acquiring valuable data for 2024 during all sessions of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. What might appear as a rejection of the latest update package, which debuted in Austin, is, in reality, an opportunity. Some teams have had nothing to aspire to for a long time and, at the same time, nothing to lose. A limbo that justifies the choice of the American team.
As already experimented by Aston Martin last year and by McLaren halfway through the 2023 season, a complete revision of the aerodynamic package takes time to be understood by the engineers who conceived it through the use of design and simulation software. The engineers of the “green” team, after turning the AMR22 upside down at the Spanish Grand Prix in 2022, causing controversies for its resemblance to the RB18, began to see glimpses of competitiveness towards the end of the last season.
The possibility of testing solutions on the track, inevitably sacrificing the sporting result, is the only weapon teams have to try to close the gap on direct competitors. In this case, AlphaTauri’s growth in recent rounds has effectively convinced the technicians of the team led by Gunther Steiner to turn their gaze to the next season. Comparing two technical projects on the race track still represents the best feedback for engineers.
The goal is to verify the strengths of the new aerodynamic philosophy and the weaknesses, namely the areas of the evolved car that did not provide the expected results in the virtual context. After all, the significant development that debuted in Texas had to contend with the characteristics of the base specification chassis. For example, in correspondence with the narrowing of the sidepods, a bulge can be seen at the height of the placement of the intrusion cone. Also, the geometry of the suspension system (supplied by Ferrari) remained unchanged.
This “training on the job” will help the team led by Simone Resta analyze much more realistic data compared to those from winter testing. Why haven’t other teams adopted the same strategy? First of all, Haas was the team that brought the best update precisely in the final stages of the season with the precise intention of setting the aerodynamic concept of the future VF-24. Other teams have devised development plans with numerous micro-updates distributed throughout the season.
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Furthermore, the perspective of the drivers should not be overlooked. If the fight for the championship titles (drivers and constructors) died before it was born, internal rivalries in some teams are very intense. The Ferrari team, for example, would have had major difficulties imposing the differentiation of the cars without causing dissatisfaction in one of the two drivers. Without beating around the bush, if for the teams, the competitors are the other teams, for a driver, the main competitor is the teammate, even though the season doesn’t offer many reasons to rejoice. The wild Haas idea could also be an indirect help for the Prancing Horse, which provides all Transferable Components (TRC) to the American team.
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