Haas can’t afford another dismal season like it had in 2019.
MONTMELO, Spain- February 19th—Just hours before the first 2020 Formula 1 pre-season test took place, on Wednesday morning, the American Haas F1 Team (the first team to show their livery to the public on the internet) officially launched their VF-20 Challenger at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.
The car has changed colors following last season’s decision to drop its former sponsor, Rich Energy, which formally had the car’s livery in gold and black. Now, with another season upon them, the original livery of black, silver, and a tint of red has returned.
The car previously was on the track with Williams and Renault last Monday, so it was no surprise that everyone knew about the livery already.
Kevin Magnussen got the first chance to drive the car. His French teammate, Romain Grosjean, will take over on Thursday. But the big story is that Haas is trying to recover from a dismal 2019–9th in the Constructors’ rankings, just one slot from the bottom.
Things were no better away from the track. Their sponsor had financial troubles and, to make things even worse, the CEO of the company axed the contract following the Austrian Grand Prix. It was a financial struggle for the rest of the season until Haas themselves terminated the contract just before the final race in Abu Dhabi.
For Team Manager Guenther Steiner, there have been rumors that last season’s performance had to be improved in order to continue with this program. At the very least, Steiner believes that improvement means everyone will have to listen to each other and work together.
Guenther Steiner: What we’ve learned is how to look at things better, and how to analyze our data better, to see if we’re on the right track or if we’re headed in the wrong direction, and we’ve learned as well to listen to our drivers – that sometimes helps a lot.
Time will tell if intent yields results.
