Grosjean opts for stability over downforce at Hockenheim

Haas' Romain Grosjean will continue to run the team's Melbourne aero package at Hockenheim, feeling the set-up provides better stability to his VF-19 chassis.

At Silverstone, Grosjean reverted back to the US outfit's original aero configuration following his frustrations with the VF-19's Barcelona update and subsequent disappointing performances in France and Austria in race trim.

Magnussen, however, carried on with the current upgrade package which led the team to split its configurations in Great Britain as it sought clarity on its car's aerodynamics.

Haas' comparison will continue next weekend at a venue that highlights straight-line speed and downforce.

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"When we brought the upgrade in Barcelona, I wanted to revert back on the Friday evening," Grosjean explains.

"For me, the feeling was not so good from the rear end, especially through medium- and high-speed corners. The feeling hasn’t been good in those corners since then.

"Going back to the Melbourne package, the car felt a lot better in those regions. It shows that something was not working as expected.

"Now the aero guys are looking into it, but we know it’s been our weakness. Obviously, that launch package has some limitations also. It has less downforce, but it has better stability."

Haas' split-package experiment at Hockenheim shall be even more contrasted than at Silverstone as the team implements its second major update package in Germany, at least on Magnussen's car.

"We’ve changed a few parts on the car. There’s not one specific area we’re targeting," says team boss Guenther Steiner.

"We’re just making the car, in general, better, more drivable with more downforce, which always helps you go fast.

"We’re trying to make the tyres work better for us. That’s the biggest improvement we can make at the moment – getting into the window of the tyre – and that’s got a lot to do with downforce.

"We’re putting a lot of effort into improving the situation we’re in," adds Steiner.

"We need to get the understanding of where we are and where we didn’t work in the right direction. That’s the thing we have to do."

Silverstone was unfortunately written off as soon the first lap for Haas' drivers following a contact between Grosjean and Magnussen that eventually had terminal consequences for both their cars and restricted the team's aero experiment, much to Steiner's ire.

Magnussen hopes the back-to-back races in Germany and Hungary that will precede F1's summer break will offer Haas an opportunity to secure some good points.

"It would be pretty awesome if we could finish off the first half of the season on a high," says the Dane.

"But, obviously, we need to go in with realistic expectations and keep focused on our objective, which is to try and learn and understand in order to be able to perform at a high level as soon as possible."

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