The American based Haas F1 1 team have announced that they are switching their focus to the 2017 car with immediate affect.
After a promising start to the campaign which saw French driver Romain Grosjean surprise many with consecutive points finishes at the opening races of the season. F1 Haas appeared to be set for a record breaking debutant F1 season.
Yet, results did not continue to go the way of the F1 newcomers and they have struggled to get the tyres to perform consistently and this has severely impacted their pace.
The VF-16 chassis as it stands will now be trusted to see the season out. Gunther Steiner confirms Haas F1 have given up the chase of McLaren, despite just 10 points being the current defecit..
“We are full-time on the ’17 car,” Steiner reveals.
“We are not doing anything with the ’16 car anymore. Where we are with the ’17 car, we think we are in a good place, but until after we go out next year at the first test, we don’t know [where we will be] because other people are developing.
“Wind tunnel sessions are filled with parts to try, we are doing CFD, we are maxed out on everything as allowed by the FIA and everybody seems to be confident that we are on the right path.
“Where we are – only next year will tell when we get on the track.”
Following ‘wind tunnel gate’ of 2015, where Ferrari benefited from Haas F1 wind tunnel time; the question is… how much information sharing is Gene and the boys doing with Maranello again?
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Why not? Everyone else is doing it. Mercedes-Benz/AMG 2016 domination is so great that most teams have given up on this season completely.