So here we are, the 4th race of the year. And only the 4th race for the Haas F1 Team.
Romain Grosjean stated after China that the team starts every race with a blank page. It’s nearly impossible to set our expectations for the race.
That said, we are beginning to learn some things about the Haas F1 Team. So far they have had relatively few technical issues. The wreck with Alonso in Australia and a brake-by-wire issue for Gutierrez in Bahrain have accounted for all of the DNF’s so far this year. Reliability has been better than Ferrari’s. I have had the benefit of seeing the first two practice in Sochi before writing this. Ferrari is forced to replace Vettel’s gear box. The Ferrari will take a 5 place grid penalty for the race.
But for Haas, things have been somewhat uneventful. Grosjean’s nose wing was destroyed in turn 1 of the Chinese Grand Prix, and he was forced to run with that newly designed wing. As we now know, that wing was causing too much drag and delegated Grosjean to a 19th position finish. The team has benefited from the high attrition rates for the first two races. But every team completed the Chinese Grand Prix, and Haas was not in the points (top 10)
After the practice session earlier today we’ve learned that the Haas cars are still down on speed. Gutierrez finished practice in 16th place while Grosjean finished 17th. It seems that Haas is settling mid-pack, behind AMG Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Williams and Toro Rosso. Grosjean’s early results have proven that the car can run, but the team had some help with high attrition rates in the first two races. And as Haas improves each week, so do their competitors.
We are not expecting a podium, or anything silly like that yet… Success for Has this weekend will be; both cars advance into the second qualifying round, Q2, and both cars completing the race. I’d like to think a Haas car can make it to Q3, but that would take a twist of fate, or a bit of luck based on their pace in practice. But reliability is also the other benchmark the team is working to establish. If both cars complete the Russian Grand Prix, the weekend will a success. An advance into Q3 by a Haas car will exceed expectations
Tyre strategy could come into play. But I’ll leave that topic for a pre-race journal entry. I’ll keep this short… looking forward to qualifying tomorrow.