Despite a spectacular start to their Formula 1 project, when they surprised the Formula 1 world by featuring prominently in the opening races of the season, the Haas team are still finding their feet at the pinnacle of the sport, but owner Gene Haas believes that things are falling into place for the American team.
Speaking during a media conference in Baku on the opening day of the European Grand Prix weekend, Haas said, “I think the team is coalescing together quite well. There’s no more scrambling to figure out why this didn’t work or that didn’t work.”
“We had a lot of problems with the simple things like radio communications and electrical boxes and at the last few races we don’t have those issues anymore.”
“So they’re starting to sort out how the cars work, what it takes to put them together. I think I feel very, very comfortable with the progress the team is making.”
Optimising the Pirelli tyres during races has been the biggest challenge for the team.
Haas said, “I think a lot of it is just the learning curve of trying to get the tyres to work. We’ve struggled with tire temperatures.”
And he revealed, “We’ve had issues when the safety car comes out that once the tires come out of their optimum temperature we just lose pace rather quickly.”
“So that’s probably the biggest problem: trying to maintain the tyre temperatures, especially when you’re in back of the pack where you’re always going to be a few seconds off the leaders.”
“That differential makes a huge impact on how hard the tires are worked and also their temperature,” explained Haas.
Romain Grosjean scored the team’s first points in their debut in Melbourne, and they currently lie eighth in the constructors championship ahead of the likes of Renault and Sauber who have vastly more experience than the American newcomers.
Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247
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