Haas F1 are targeting staff appointments to cover any knowledge shortfalls the team have revealed in their debut season.
A mixed first year in Formula One gave the American team a better idea of what to expect from 2017, and what more they need to do to achieve their aims.
“A lot of people thought Ferrari was basically going to give us a car and we were going to race the car,” team principal Gene Haas told ESPN. “But that wasn’t the case. I think it’s very apparent there’s a lot more going on with these cars than just the parts themselves.”
Haas believes the team currently lack the expertise to get the most out of what has been provided by Ferrari, as well as other challenges they discovered in their debut season.
“There’s so many parameters in terms of tyre pressures and air temp pressures and brake cooling to make these cars work. Every team has to conquer that and that’s where we’re still having some learning curves… to learn exactly how to get the car, the engine, the tyres and the brakes to work together.”
Overcoming those problems might mean taking on additional staff with better expertise. With Manor’s possible exit from the grid, there may soon be plenty of applicants to any openings at Haas. But the Banbury-based team, who actually moved into Manor’s previous factory, aren’t looking for a huge amount of additions to the team, valuing quality over quantity.
“I think the infrastructure we have at the moment is adequate,” Haas said. “The key thing is to add more personnel whose expertise are in the areas I talked about and getting them… We have to spend more time getting the car to perform.”
Haas believe they may be able to get four or five tenths a lap out of their car if they can reach maximum performance, but it will take work to get there.
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