How Haas Team Principal Günther Steiner and Kevin Magnussen rate the update to the Formula One car and what Mick Schumacher has to say
Kevin Magnussen in the modified Haas VF-22 was 0.167 seconds quicker than teammate Mick Schumacher in the “old” car in Friday’s Formula One practice for the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring near Budapest. But does that automatically mean the Haas update is a success?
“The numbers don’t look bad,” says team boss Günther Steiner after 16th and 17th places at the opening round in Hungary. However, Haas did not aim for sheer lap times in Friday practice, but simply wanted to collect a lot of data with Magnussen in the improved car.
“The good thing is: the values fit,” says Steiner. “Now we have to work on the balance to get the best out of the numbers. Because we have to find more there. But that’s quite normal when you use a new package for the first time. “
How Magnussen rates the first laps
Testing was therefore the main focus for Magnussen. The fact that an improvement can be assumed on the basis of the first results is “already very good”, says the Dane.
“Of course, we still have a lot of work to do to make the update really work and to get more potential out of it in terms of lap time and balance. But so far, so good. A good day. It’s looking pretty positive.
His team, however, had struggled to set up the car perfectly for the track from the start with the new parts. “It didn’t feel bad at all for that,” said Magnussen.
What’s different compared to the “old” version
What is different compared to the basic version of the vehicle as it was used before? “The deployment window has shifted a bit,” Magnussen says, but doesn’t go into detail.
“Apart from that, I haven’t noticed anything that would have been different, if you think about the turn-in and things like that. There are subtle differences, but it’s difficult to say from track to track. Nothing major has changed. The car feels more or less the same. “
An update is always a risk because …
With the update, there is probably no risk of taking a technical step backwards. After all, “that’s the hard thing when you put in an update and you’re moving away from what you’ve learned and know well before,” Magnussen explains.
“When you have something well optimised and then you explore new things. But that seems to be [a problem] that we don’t have.”
Rather, he says, Haas has already discovered promising characteristics on the modified car. For example, over the distance with more fuel in the tank: “There we made another step to get more out of the balance. I also had the impression that we look better with less fuel. Hopefully we can take that with us,” said Magnussen.
Mick Schumacher’s verdict on the Haas update
He speaks of “small steps” that Haas are taking with the new car. His team-mate Schumacher, who still has to drive the previous version in Hungary, claims to have already realised that “the other car develops significantly more downforce” in fast corners. “By how much, we still have to go into detail ourselves,” said the German.
“It is not yet clear how much advantage the new package brings. We are also trying to solve a few basic problems that we have observed over most of the tracks. Right now, though, we’re focusing on improving downforce.” Haas may have succeeded in doing that with the Hungary update.
Team boss Steiner, at any rate, recognises “good values” and “the right direction” in his racing team’s development. “If we get more data that corresponds to that from the wind tunnel, then everything is good. But we still have to look at it in detail.”
Still, he said, one should not expect an immediate leap in performance: “We have now driven twelve races with the [previous] car and know it pretty well. There is no magic part we can bring then. It takes time to adjust [the update]. But I am confident because the numbers are right. “
