Haas started 2022 like a phoenix from the ashes. They began the season with a competitive car, a change of driver in their line-up adding some much-needed experience and an F2 champion waiting to spread his wings in his second year in F1.
Three months ago, they sat third in the constructors standings, basking in the glory of a team reignited. Eight races the story has not unfolded the way they might have expected.
At the last race Haas dropped to ninth in the championship standings, ahead of only Williams. Through a combination of reliability problems, errors from both drivers and other misfortunes, the team’s seven top-10 grid positions have yielded just three points finishes in 2022, all for one driver.
After a fifth successive point-less race in Canada, frustration will be setting in for drivers Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher. The latter is one of only two drivers on the grid yet to mark his scoring card this season.
After a tough 2021 campaign, Haas originally decided to stick with their line-up of Nikita Mazepin and Schumacher for 2022. Their plans changed shortly after testing began and Russia invaded Ukraine. With their Russian sponsor and driver facing sanction, Haas made the quick decision to drop Mazepin and recall Magnussen a year after he’d been shown the door.
The team were elated as Magnussen quickly found his feet in the familiar surroundings. A shift had been felt and the promise of a competitive package was evident heading to the first round in Bahrain.
Magnussen delivered right out of the box, making the most of the car in the early races. He finished an impressive fifth in Bahrain, followed up by top 10 finishes in both Saudi Arabia and Imola. After three points scores in the opening four races, few would have imagined that would be it for Haas so far this year.
But things began to go awry in Miami. After dropping out in Q1, Magnussen’s race went from bad to worse. A pit stop blunder by the team dropped him towards the back of the pack and a collision with Lance Stroll capped a disappointing race on home ground for the team.
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Reliability problems thwarted Magnussen in Monaco and Baku. He has also had two unhelpful first-lap run-ins with Lewis Hamilton. The pair clashed as Magnussen attempted to pass the Mercedes in Spain, dropping the Haas out of contention. Another attempt to pass the Mercedes in Canada cost Magnussen the chance to…
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