Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsHaas F1 Team

Steiner: New teams should get extra test days

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner wants new teams to be able to test more than existing outfits ahead of their debut season.

This season saw just eight days of pre-season testing ahead of the first race in Australia, with Haas struggling for mileage during the second test. With Haas also having to gel as a team running a car on track for the first time during that period, Steiner would like to see new teams given extra days to test ahead of entering F1.

"As a new team, I would want an opportunity to test a few more days than the other teams," Steiner said. "Give the new teams a freebie with three or more days of testing to get to know the car better, to get the team working better together so you can avoid the small mistakes you make early on that sometimes have big consequences.

"It’s wishful thinking, but knowing what I know now would have helped avoid the problems we had in China."

Haas struggled with a new front wing at the last race in China, and Steiner says any extra days of testing would be simply about familiarising the team with running a car.

“It’s more about the team working together and getting to know the car better than trying to invent something new. If you have one new piece of equipment, you have very little time during the weekend to get the team together and know what to look for and really gel together.

"It’s not about going faster. It’s about not making mistakes so you don’t go slower. In general, it would be nice to have a few more days of testing.”

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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.