2019 Report – Haas: Total Stagnation
The end of the year is approaching, and it's time to analyze the teams' performances in 2019. Motors Inside offers you a look back at the season of the Haas team, which faced the greatest difficulties in making a car that was incomprehensible to the drivers work.
Fifth in the 2018 championship with a total of 93 points, the Haas team had made the most impressive progress of the year and could legitimately hope to improve further in 2019.
With more experience, the American team thought they could avoid the unacceptable mistakes at this level which they suffered in 2018, highlighted by the double retirement of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen at the Australian Grand Prix due to poorly secured wheels after pit stops.
But as a symbol, the repetition of this mistake indeed took place during the inaugural Grand Prix in 2019 with Grosjean as the victim while he was in a position to score big points. After this disappointment, the team will never again be able to fight for the Top 6 or even for points: Kevin Magnussen will only enter the Top 10 four times compared to three times for his teammate.
Even more concerning, the development of the VF-19 during the season only weakened the team’s performance. Completely lost, the two drivers found themselves with a car that was often undrivable and had enormous difficulties in getting the tires to work. So much so that Romain Grosjean chose to revert to the original specification of the car mid-season to feel more comfortable.
The season for Günther Steiner’s team was also marred by the commercial fiasco with its title sponsor, the energy drink brand Rich Energy. William Storey, the eccentric former head of the British brand, continuously criticized the team’s results until the contract between the two parties was terminated following the Italian Grand Prix.
The 2020 season will prove crucial for Haas, which is not aiming to be in Formula 1 just to make up the numbers. The search for a new title sponsor will also be decisive in determining the level of investment the team can benefit from to develop its next car. The arrival of Robert Kubica in a development driver role, accompanied by his wealthy Polish sponsor, could well be a lifeline.
