The tenth race of the 2024 Formula 1 season is coming up, and Haas is struggling in the World Championship. After some surprisingly solid performances, the team is in seventh place with seven points, but despite a multi-stage update, they have not scored any points for three races. And in Barcelona, the problems are likely to pile up this weekend. Because what the VF-24 really needs won’t come for another two weeks.
“I’m expecting a tough weekend,” explained team boss Ayao Komatsu on Thursday. The reason is the characteristics of the track in Barcelona. But not the tire-killing reputation, despite well-known problems last year: “In terms of tire wear, we are at least in a good area, that is not our biggest problem this year. Our biggest problem is a lack of downforce in fast corners.”
Komatsu also states: “Since we brought the updates in Imola, Shanghai and Miami, we haven’t had any real high-speed corners.” But these updates were not primarily geared towards improving the car at high speeds. Komatsu also admitted weeks ago: The first update data after Imola suggested clear improvements, but not everywhere as expected.
Haas works feverishly on weakness: Next step ignites in Silverstone
“We have obviously learned something from this and now we are putting together the Silverstone package,” explains Komatsu. This package is the first to actively address the findings from the first races regarding the noticeable high-speed deficit. “It should be the first clear step that we take. At least that is what we will see in race twelve.”
“How much we can improve our ability to deliver downforce at high speed will be the ultimate test,” says Komatsu. So far, Haas has been a positive surprise. That is why the team is following this plan of gradual updates. The first package, for example, was quite extensive, but was assembled over three races instead of being delivered all at once.
“We expected that our base would not be sufficiently competitive,” recalls Komatsu. This also brings problems: “Bigger packages are easier to analyze. But if you come from far behind, you can’t wait ten races to bring a big package. You need something in races five, six, seven. Otherwise you’ll get to race ten and the championship will be over for you.”
The further Haas update plan for 2024 explained
Haas therefore decided to go down the path of quick, small updates: “The message was clear that we would develop aggressively. We didn’t even set ourselves races as goals. It was more about achieving target performance in the wind tunnel.” The philosophy for the first updates was: As soon as a new component achieved measurable progress, it was carted to the track.
This strategy was decided before the team did surprisingly well in the first few races, seemed to overcome the tire problems that had been so bad the previous year and fought for the last point in several Grands Prix. Nevertheless, Haas’ development plan is now partly tied to the original announcement. Precisely because the first package, which was only fully installed on the car in Imola, could not be evaluated for its effect in the weak area of high speed due to unsuitable tracks.
That makes Barcelona important. It will be the first time that we will see the full impact of the first package. Incidentally, it is already too late for the second package coming in Silverstone, which is practically finished and in production. However, waiting for a good test track like Barcelona would have pushed it back too far. Especially considering that the midfield competition is starting to catch up.
Komatsu remains cautiously optimistic for Silverstone: “Of course, if it delivers everything we see, then that’s decent. But I’m not dreaming of that. We have to drive it on the track first and then see what we can deliver. But I’m at least pretty confident that we can make progress.” Komatsu is also demanding this elsewhere. More on the mishaps in Canada: