Guenther Steiner has reiterated that Haas F1 team is looking to score points during its maiden campaign, after the US outfit’s VF-16 was unveiled on Sunday.
Haas is the first team to enter F1 since Virgin (now Manor Racing), Lotus (later on Caterham), and HRT joined the fray in 2010. The trio has combined for only two points courtesy of the late Jules Bianchi’s ninth-place finish at the 2014 Monaco GP, with only Manor still on the grid as of this date.
However, the American outfit – a first since 1986 – has forged a strong technical partnership with Ferrari, which sees Maranello provides Haas with plenty of components, most notably the power unit.
Steiner, whose declarations over the winter oscillated between caution and ambition, is confident the VF-16 can break into the top 10 this year.
“Our goal with this car is to score points,” the ex-Jaguar and Red Bull man said. “First, we need to go out there and show that we can do the job, that we can finish races, that we are respected by the fans and other teams in the paddock. Then, we want to score points. That is the ultimate goal.”
“We have very experienced designers who worked hard to develop all the little things from an aerodynamic perspective that, collectively, add up to a lot. And our technical partner, Ferrari, provided our power unit, and that really defined the rear end of the car and how big it needed to be.
Speaking about Haas’ maiden F1 challenger, Steiner explains the team has drawn inspiration from ideas and concepts that top teams have brought to the fore.
“Just as Haas Automation’s products continually evolve, becoming better and more efficient, our methodology behind the VF-16 was to make it the best evolution of a good F1 car.
“We’re a new team, so we looked at what the successful teams were doing to give us a baseline of the direction we needed to go with our design.”
Haas has already shaken down its VF-16 with the team completing an installation lap in Barcelona ahead of pre-season testing, which kicks off on Monday 22 February.
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