Why only Kevin Magnussen will get updated Haas in Hungary.
Joe Portlock – Formula 1Getty Images- Haas has taken a different tactic from most teams of only introducing one major upgrade to its VF-22 for this season.
- Originally planned for France, the upgrade was pushed back until Hungary.
- Kevin Magnussen has been tasked with sampling the upgrade in Budapest this weekend on account of his superior position in the championship standings to teammate Mick Schumacher.
The Haas F1 Team will introduce its long-awaited upgrade package at this weekend’s Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix—but only for Kevin Magnussen’s car.
Haas has returned to the midfield this year after spending 2021 rooted to the back of the field, and holds seventh in the championship on 34 points.
Rival teams have adopted a development approach of bringing regular updates through the first half of the season, but Haas has taken a different tactic of only introducing one major upgrade to its VF-22.
Kevin Magnussen with be the one giving the feedback in regards to the Haas F1 Team upgrade coming to this week’s race in Hungary.
NurPhotoGetty Images
Originally planned for France, the upgrade was pushed back until Hungary, with the team now confirming that Magnussen will run the updated specification while Mick Schumacher will remain in the old-spec package. Magnussen has been tasked with sampling the upgrade in Budapest this weekend on account of his superior position in the championship to Schumacher, having outscored his teammate 22-12.
It is the first significant in-season upgrade package in a few years for Haas, which struggled with its development through 2019. The team did not upgrade its car in-season in either the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to the pandemic.
“As many people know, we waited a bit longer to bring our upgrade to track because I think we still have good pace,” said Haas team principal Guenther Steiner. “Now what we want to do is put performance on. What exactly it will do, I don’t want to say because I don’t want to jinx it, but we know what it should be doing from our development. We’ll just have to wait and see what we can get out of the package.
“In the end, we couldn’t get two car kits to the race track, so with Kevin being in front in the championship we gave him the package to try.”
Steiner outlined that falling behind in production earlier in the year, having struggled to manufacturer sufficient spare parts, meant the team could not prepare enough new components for two cars in time for Hungary. The spare parts situation means Magnussen will have to keep it clean through practice and qualifying.
“Everybody has worked really hard—the team and our suppliers—to make this happen so I’m still very happy that we bring it on one car to Hungary,” said Steiner. “We want to get some data before the summer break so we have something to work from when we get back, and if all goes well we’ll have it on both cars.”
Keyword: Haas F1 Team Finally Bringing 2022 Upgrade to 1 Car for Hungarian Grand Prix