Haas has become the first Formula 1 team to reveal its 2018 car, releasing rendered images of the VF-18.
The most notable features of the new car are the addition of the halo cockpit safety device as well as the removal of the shark fin engine cover and T-Wing, with these elements being banned for 2018.
This season marks Haas’ third in the category. The team has finished eighth in the constructors’ championship in 2016 and ’17.
“The biggest part of the car’s evolution was the addition of the halo,” says Haas team principal Gunther Steiner.
“It took quite a bit of study by the aerodynamicists, but the designers had to work hard to modify the chassis so the halo could survive the mandated loads.
“The regulations stayed pretty stable between 2017 and 2018, so the VF-18 is an evolution of our car from last year. It’s less about reinvention and more about refinement.”
Haas has focused on building a more stable platform for 2018, after inconsistent performance blighted ’17. As a result, the VF-18 promises to be less susceptible to subtle circuit characteristics.
“Our 2017 car was actually pretty good, but we didn’t always get the best out of it, and that’s what we aimed to change in 2018,” Steiner added.
“We got the car as light as possible to carry more ballast. We were able to do a better job of putting the weight where we wanted it.”
Haas continues the close relationship that it has shared with Ferrari since inception. As a result, the power unit and transmission in the VF-18 is provided by Ferrari.
Gene Haas, founder and chairman of the team, highlighted that Haas needs to be closer to Ferrari’s performance this year in order to declare the season a success.
“It’s no secret we use a lot of Ferrari equipment, so we’re using them as our baseline,” he stated. “We need to be within a half-second of Ferrari in order for us to be competitive. We weren’t last year.
“I would say we were a second to a second-and-a-half slower than Ferrari. Overall, we were maybe two seconds off the pole qualifiers, so we need to knock a second off that if we really want to be competitive.”
The VF-18 will be driven by Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen this season, as Haas enters 2018 with an unchanged driver pairing.
Comments.
Loading comments…