The Haas F1 Team will not complete a December shakedown with its 2016 car as originally planned this year.

Speaking to F1i during an exclusive interview during pre-season testing at Jerez, team owner Gene Haas said the plan was for the new car to run at the end of the current season before its debut next year. Haas has been developing its car as part of a technical partnership with Ferrari.

However, Haas revealed to F1i during the Italian Grand Prix weekend that those plans have now been changed, with the car unlikely to run on track before the official start of pre-season testing in 2016. The reason for the revision is to allow the team as much development time as possible ahead of its entry.

Team principal Guenther Steiner told the official Formula One website there is still a chance the car will run a day before the first pre-season test.

“On 1st March 2016, on the first all-team test day,” Steiner said when asked about its debut. “It could be that we will perform a shakedown one day before - on 29th February - but nothing more is planned so far.”

Click here for F1i's technical analysis of the Spa and Monza upgrades

2016 F1 driver line-ups so far

F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

7 mins ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

53 mins ago

Ferrari and Mercedes admit to plank changes based on FIA’s TD

Ferrari and Mercedes have both modified their car’s floor element in Las Vegas to comply…

2 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Hamilton continues on top in second practice

Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on top of the timesheets for the second time in Las…

2 hours ago

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

Full results from Free Practice 2 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas,…

2 hours ago

Leclerc confident Ferrari ‘has a shot’ at F1 Constructors’ title

Charles Leclerc believes that Ferrari has a genuine “shot” at beating rival McLaren to Formula…

3 hours ago