How Haas delivered its F1 “game changer”

Having expressed concern over the winter that it could start the year on the back foot, and potentially even be on the last row, its situation is much better than that. Amid the pack of five teams picking up the rear, its tally so far leaves it seventh in the constructors’ championship.

But the biggest transformation at Haas is not something that can be measured in points. Instead, it can be gauged only in mindset, and that is something that drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg have openly raved about.

They talk of a totally fresh attitude, of the team no longer going into race day with a sense of dread about slipping down the order because of tyre degradation woes. Hulkenberg liked it to being “a runaway train in the wrong direction.”

Instead, its new car and engineering-first approach has left it with a challenger that means it can look forward to being in the fight on Sundays – and that is the key to consistent points.

As Magnussen said: “The fact that we can fight on Sunday is such a big thing. It’s a game changer. That was so frustrating last year, and even in ’22 we saw signs of that. But yeah, it’s just like a new fresh start.”

Asked about Magnussen’s game-changer assessment, Hulkenberg added: “It’s definitely that we’re in a different environment and world compared to last year.”

Ultimately the biggest gain has come from the Haas car characteristic moving away from being quite peaky to one that is more benign.

“We flattened out the aero map, desensitising the car,” added Hulkenberg. “It seemed very crucial and key for the moment.”

But the change from having a Saturday car to a Sunday car is not something that is delivered with just the flick of a switch. Teams do not just pen a design that automatically is easier on its rubber.

Improved tyre management is the culmination of both aerodynamic and mechanical approaches, and it is these two factors that have come together to help.

And while the progress is promising, technical director Andrea de Zordo is eager to point out that it would be wrong for anyone to suggest that Haas has answered everything it needs to on tyres.

“Fully understand is a big word!” he said. “But I think we made a big step in that.”

He sees progress as a two-fold thing. First, the VF-24 design happens to be better in this area not by total accident, but also not entirely by choice.

Reflecting on the step…