Romain Grosjean played down the front wing failure which disrupted the first day of running for new F1 team Haas.
“The morning went very well until we had a small front wing failure,” said Grosjean. “It compromised our afternoon a little, but it was good that we could put some laps on the car later.”
Grosjean managed a further 15 laps in the new VF-16 after the team “re-engineered” and fitted a new front wing.
“We don’t have any big problems,” Grosjean concluded. “I’m very happy with the first day. It’s been a really good start for the team. It’s been a positive day.”
“Of course, you always want more and more, but I think the most important thing is that I’m happy with the car. The first impression is really good. The car balance is there straight away.”
Grosjean posted his fastest time of the test on his sixth lap. It left Haas second from bottom on the times sheets and a promising 3.46s off the pace which was set by their engine supplier Ferrari.
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bezza695 (@bezza695)
22nd February 2016, 19:53
If it wasn’t such a big problem, why limit him to 300kph after the failure, either way impressive debut for Haas today IMO, sure they are a tad slow and only did 39 laps but looking at the times, I think was impressive, remember when Lotus, HRT and Virgin debuted the overcomplex front wings were only in their second year of development so for Haas to come into F1 where the wings are now in their 7th year (crazy to think 2009 was that long ago I know) of being like that and have a respectable front wing (until it failed) is good. Yes there is a lot more to F1 than the front wing but look at how much time it has taken the teams to develop them to be the mind screwing monsterous front wings they are today and Haas is starting from 0 I think personally is good, least it will give Sauber and Manor something to think about which who knows could give the backmarkers some much needed TV time
Paulo Ruiz (@omegadetra)
22nd February 2016, 20:26
Didn’t know they’d limited to 300kph. Maybe they’ve thought of a solution but didn’t have the resources in a single day to do a proper fix without wasting the whole day, so they proceeded with their testing plan with that little restriction.
bezza695 (@bezza695)
22nd February 2016, 20:29
@omegadetra can’t remember where I saw that from, good chance its not a reliable source, either way I am still very impressed with what they came out with. Hopefully they have found a solution, for them really its just about learning about car itself given that it seems most other teams will already have a good idea of how their car performs given that all the cars except Manor and Ferrari are just evolutions of last years cars
Mike
22nd February 2016, 22:43
I imagine this is, as F1 goes, an easy fix. So it shouldn’t be a long term hindrance.
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd February 2016, 6:12
I think we should take the range of problems they considered – remember when Virgin, Lotus and HRT first took their cars for a run – having the front wing mounting failing but the rest of the car running fine all day is really a minor issue in comparison
DirkWar
22nd February 2016, 20:09
Looks so much better without a front wing. I say get rid of them !
Wron
22nd February 2016, 20:44
+1
Marc Thielke (@motor)
22nd February 2016, 21:09
Heck yeah. And it would mean no more cut rear tyres ;)
davros
22nd February 2016, 21:23
But it would mean the driver having more meaning, overtaking being possible and DRS becoming redundant…
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
23rd February 2016, 12:01
Enter, GROUND EFFEEEECCTTTT…………
schooner (@schooner)
22nd February 2016, 20:54
To be honest, I didn’t expect them to return to the track for the rest of the day after that wing went adrift. I’d say they had a pretty decent first ever outing.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
22nd February 2016, 22:37
Not a bad first outing at all. Very different from previous new teams like Virgin, Caterham & Manor in that they seem much more likely to be close to the midfield.
Mike
22nd February 2016, 22:46
Given that it’s the first time they have ever run a car, I think it was definitely a success. That they got the car to run around the track with no major problems is fantastic. Well done I say. Today was just about putting the car on the track and getting it to do laps.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
22nd February 2016, 22:47
Glad it was only a “small” front wing failure! Is there such a thing?
Lewis Hamilton started his season with one in 2014, so they’re in good company… but it’s a more convincing start than other recent newcomers to F1, and it’ll be better still if Gutierrez can spend all of tomorrow plodding round. After all, that’s what he’ll do for the rest of the year…
BJ (@beejis60)
23rd February 2016, 1:33
West Virginia chrome no doubt
Faulty
23rd February 2016, 2:22
Any comments from Steiner? It’d be good to know if the team came prepared to tackle disruptions like the detached wing.