After fresh talk of similarities between the Haas and Ferrari challengers, Guenther Steiner says it is the logical development path.
Haas has held close ties to Ferrari ever since joining the series in 2016, buying in the Ferrari power unit and all other allowed parts from the Scuderia also.
The team then has been no stranger to disgruntlement regarding the relationship, which is at risk of bubbling up again a result of Haas’ first upgrade package for their 2022 challenger, the VF-22.
Haas introduced changes to the floor, diffuser, underbody, coke shape and engine cover, as well as adding an additional cooling exit, all of which has moved the VF-22 closer towards the look of the Ferrari F1-75, both cars nonetheless still unique.
And Steiner, Haas’ team principal, made it clear that since Haas get a big chunk of their parts from Ferrari, it would make little sense to try and go down a totally different development path, especially since Ferrari has established itself as one-half of the leading duo alongside Red Bull.
Steiner explained that the three potential concepts to follow out there are Ferrari’s, Red Bull’s and Mercedes’.
New looking Haas #F1. pic.twitter.com/LKL7byRJY9
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“If somebody says we copied, I will give him the same answer: ‘what should we have copied, the Williams?’,” said Steiner, quoted by The Race.
“No disrespect to Williams, but it’s a completely different concept and they are behind us.
“If you copy something you copy the best we can and at the moment it’s Ferrari and Red Bull.
“We have got the same engine as Ferrari, the same gearbox, the same suspension – why would we copy anything else? And they are winning races.
“One and one is still two and we are not this stupid.
“There are three concepts out there, the Ferrari concept, the Red Bull concept and the Mercedes concept.
“We are closer to the Ferrari so obviously we are going to see what Ferrari has done and copy that one, but that takes a little bit of time because they had to launch their car then do a few races. Then we had to go into the windtunnel.
“If we’ve got the same concept as Ferrari then we are not going to copy the Williams, obviously. You copy something similar. Therefore it takes a bit longer because you want to see what the other ones do and what works and doesn’t work.
“We are in a good place for where we are supposed to be. We didn’t expect to come out this strong in the…
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