F1 | Haas doesn't score points but convinces. News arriving between China and Imola

It's just another world. This is what transpires, in a shocking way, from the Haas garage. Bringing up the rear in 2023 but one of the best surprises of the start of the 2024 season, the team now directed by Ayao Komatsu has made notable progress from a performance point of view, with the VF-24 made of very different stuff from its progenitor .

More aerodynamic load, more stability, better tire management which results in controlled degradation, less than the wild one last year. The points finishes collected so far are no coincidence, and the one missed yesterday in Japan was more the result of an error at the start by Nico Hulkenberg rather than a real lack of pace.

“Despite the disappointment of the bad start, what we were able to take from this race is that we now have a package with which we can fight with the other mid-table teams and, to be honest, it seemed even better than that what I expected. I was a bit worried at the start of the race, I didn't expect us to go so well”, declared Nico Hulkenberg at the end of the race, 11th after a good comeback.

In the first 4 events of the current season, the American team had no news on the single-seaters. He just tried to maximize the basic package at his disposal, doing so very well. The Komatsu team, however, is working to introduce the first package of significant innovations that will arrive between the next event, the Chinese Grand Prix, and the first European of the season which will take place at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari racetrack in Imola.

“Before we have the updates, as you know, we first have to see in the wind tunnel whether they bring benefits, otherwise it is useless,” continued Hulkenberg. “But the objective is to improve over the course of the year. I believe part of the new package will arrive in China, which will then be completed in Imola”.

“In reality, it's fine for new components to arrive little by little, because then we have to take them to the track and check that they do what they're supposed to do and that the correlation is good. But this year I have the feeling that things have improved compared to last year. last”.

Haas' goal over the next few weeks will be to improve the VF-24 in fast cornering. In the first races of the season these proved to be one of the single-seater's weak points, although at Suzuka things went much better than expected thanks to a series of setup changes that worked very well.

Hulkenberg then went into more detail about what is working on his car. A question of set-up, but also stable aerodynamics that guarantee a greater load, a more predictable rear axle and more effective tire management.

“The pace is good and it's going much better. We also have other things that are still in the bag in terms of set-up and that we want and can exploit. So I think we will have room for improvement.”

“What is working best this season is the aerodynamic platform of the car, which is much more solid. And this allows the driver to have a much more consistent car. And this is a fundamental element for the management of the tires we have available “.