Season Debrief: Haas fall back from 2022 climb

For the second time in the last 3 seasons, Haas completed the season last in the constructors’ championship. After recovering from a dismaying 2021 campaign, finishing in last, Haas climbed up to finish the 2022 season in P8. Haas would fall back down in 2023, completing the season with just 12 points and an underperforming VF-23.

 

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Hulkenberg made a return to Formula One for 2023, replacing Mick Schumacher, the team believing the young German driver was causing more cost in damage than he was scoring points. Schumacher would go on to be a Mercedes reserve for 2023.

 

While Haas’s 2023 line-up featured two experienced drivers, neither driver could extract a strong performance out of the VF-23, however, the experienced driver was key in minimising damage costs over the course of the season.

 

The VF-23 was a failure from last season’s VF-22, with the original package having no real upgrade potential. The team opting not to act on the VF-23 until the latter half of the season. Upgrades were brought in Austin for the US Grand Prix, the team reworking the body work of the car, switching to mimic the Red bull-style downwash aero concept. Despite the upgrade, the car continued to disappoint, Haas unable to identify the source of mechanical issues in their lack of a challenger.

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Despite a brand-new b-spec car, Hulkenberg opted to revert back to the original car for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, while Magnussen continued to drive the updated car. Steiner explained Hulkenberg’s decision, sharing “the main drive behind this was Nico feels that for him the old spec suits him better, and Kevin is the opposite”.

 

Frustration continued to build up until the end of the season, a reflection of the lack of points scored by the team.

 

Going into 2024:

 

Heading into the 2024 season, the driver line-up remains unchanged in 2024, with Hulkenberg and Magnussen returning to behind the wheel. Team Principal Gunther Steiner, however, won’t be returning to the team, after the Italian was fired by CEO Gene Haas during the winter break. Steiner allegedly fired by the American CEO, for failing to adapt the team’s model in line with new regulations.

 

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Steiner has been Team Principal for the team since its F1 debut in 2016 and will be replaced by former Director of Engineering, Ayao Komatsu.

 

Steiner fired back at Gene Haas, to Auto Motorsport, stating that “i wanted to invest in the team, he didn’t”. Steiner would go on to criticise, “the way the team was set up, you couldn’t ask for much more. This is not a criticism of the team, but the reality. The budget car has completely changed Formula 1. Old structures no longer work”

 

Steiner would continue to compare the investments in infrastructure made by McLaren, Williams and AlphaTauri, now Visa Cash App RB Racing, and the improvements made by those teams over the last few years. Steiner would conclude “if you don’t follow suit, you can’t expect to be able to keep up”.