Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Haas VF-23. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, Hungarian Grand Prix, Saturday 22nd July 2023. Budapest, Hungary.
Haas boss Guenther Steiner says the squad will press on with bringing upgrades to its 2023 package in a bid to understand its current problems.
Haas has struggled for race pace this year, with its situation accentuated by high tire degradation, and it has not scored a top 10 at a grand prix across the last six events.
The outfit has now slipped to eighth in the Constructors’ Championship as a result.
Haas last year brought only one major mid-season upgrade package to its car but has changed tact this season with more regular development work applied onto the VF-23.
While some teams are already shifting focus to 2024 Haas says it is still bringing new components to its VF-23 in a bid to address the situation.
“In Hungary, the result looked worse than it was because we weren’t far from our competitors, but we were still behind,” said Steiner. “It’s not fantastic but it’s the right direction.
“To say whether it was the updates that gave performance or whether it was track specific, it’s very difficult to judge because of how mixed up the teams are getting and how close it is, it’s hard to come to a definitive conclusion on whether an update works.
“Our upgrade was small as we all know but what it promised to do, it did, but it just wasn’t enough.
“Upgrades for this season will also be implemented on next year’s car and that’s why we’ve decided to continue with this year’s car development to really understand our problems and where we need to put effort into making the car better for next year.
“Right now, we’re developing both cars in parallel, and we don’t really know yet when we switch over only to 2024.”
Keyword: Haas pressing ahead with ’23 development amid tyre woes