April 2017 – Haas F1 Fan Journal

2017 Russian Grand Prix – P20 start for Grosjean

It is difficult to understand what is going on with Romain Grosjean.

In 2015 I wrote a piece about Grosjean where I suggest that racing for the factory Renault F1 Team is his life long dream. I think that underlying gestalt, sub-conscience motivation, is beginning to manifest in his brake issues.

Kevin Magnussen had a good qualifying session for the Haas F1 Team. He advanced to the second qualifying round where he finished P14. Grosjean blames his last place P20 start on his brakes. Last Place start….

The Haas Team tried changing their brake vendors from Brembo to Carbon Industries. They reverted back to Brembo for qualifying. It seems that the team may be going through the paces in order to demonstrate to Romain Grosjean that there may be more to the problem than the braking vendor.

Where is Grosjean’s head? We cannot know… but surely the team knows if they have a problem.

Is the eve of the Russian Grand Prix the wrong time to suggest putting Alexander Rossi in that seat for 2018? We love Romain, but he loves Renault. Can you blame Grosjean for perhaps wanting a Renault seat? In the mean time, Rossi is advancing up the Indy grid, upping his value as the most underrated F1 driver, not in F1.

2017 Bahrain Grand Prix – Post Race

Sebastian Vettel has won the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix in fantastic fashion. His 6.5 second gap to the second place car of Lewis Hamilton enjoyed the benefit of a 5 second penalty against Hamilton. But none the less, Vettel far out performed his team mate Kimi Raikkonen. The bells of Maranello may be ringing for Vettel, but I think Kimi’s head is ringing, along with that of Valtteri Bottas.

Valtteri Bottas took his first ever Formula 1 pole yesterday. The Finn was flying high and redeemed his unforgivable error of spinning under caution in China. But by the end of the Bahrain Grand Prix he was clearly delegated to the second driver position in the AMG Mercedes stable. Bottas out qualified the 3 time world champion and Hamilton was hearty in his recognition of the fact. But fighting under anger, Hamilton demonstrates a pace that can match.

Towards the end of the race, a trailing Hamilton, chased Bottas down, was given the pass under team orders, and beat Bottas in the race by nearly 14 seconds.

As Hamilton and Vettel battle at the front for the top step of the podium, their seconds languished nearly 20 seconds behind, (with penalty applied), battling for the scraps of the podium.

Romain Grosjean gets the Mailman award from the Haas F1 Fan journal. His 9th place finish delivered 4 points to the team! This gives the team a total of 8 points and places them 7th in the F1 constructors championship.

The day did not go so well for the junior Haas driver, Kevin Magnussen. The young Dane started in the 20th position and retired on lap 9 and was the first of the race. The commentary on NBC broadcast during the race was that the failure was due to the MGU-K. The MGU-K is essentially an electric motor that mechanically connects to the engines main crank shaft. That motor can be used as a drag component, which also generates electricity, or as an electric motor, which assists the main engine crank and helps spin the the turbo charged combustion engine.

Magnussens MGU-K failed… KMags was done.

From there on the show was all about Vettel and Hamilton. Romain Grosjean’s race was never really threatened. We can just hope that MGU-K unit failure in the #20 car was a one off. At no time during the race did we hear concern from the Haas team over Grosjean’s MGU-K.

The Scuderia Ferrari is leading the Formula 1 Championship by 13 points, who’da thunk it?

But this is the Haas F1 Journal…

The Haas cars are running those same Ferrari engines. KMag’s MGU-K aside, we’re optimistic.

so WELL DONE Romain Grosjean and the Haas F1 Team.

We’ll see you all on April 27th in Sochi.

Happy Easter All!

2017 Bahrain Grand Prix – Prerace – Easter Morning

It is Sunday, April 16th, 2017. Happy Easter everyone…..

Easter holds a particular significance to me, and to many. On this and every day I pray that the spirit of Easter permeates the meaning and our world.

Today the Haas F1 Team is racing in the 1 Bahrain Grand Prix. With every race, the team has indicated some degree of improvement. At every step of the teams development we have seen a continuum of growth. So with this growth, the expectations for our hopes also grow.

To date, the Haas team has not scored “double points”. Last week at the Chinese Grand Prix we saw Kevin Magnussen score 4 points with his 8th place finish. Had Romain Grosjean not been penalized five grid spots…. eeerrrrr

This week KMags is starting at the back of the pack, P20. Can he move up 10 spots? I do think it is possible… If turns one gets ugly on the start, the back may be the best place to be…

Speaking of turn 1… Romain Grosjean will be right in the thick of the pack at turn 1, he is starting 9th. He has a very good qualifying session and maintained our expectations by making Q3. If he can make it to lap 2, I think he can finish in the points.

The Haas cars have the legs to fight in that mid pack. But the Renault Team is making humongous strides…

A word on Renault F1. I predict that, by the end of the 2017 season we will see Renault at par with Red Bull and possibly making podium challenges. They are starting with anew this year… and they are already light years ahead of Honda/McLaren. And their car looks fantastic!!!

I don’t expect the Haas development to keep pace with Renault. How can they.

So… Will Buxton is on the grid with his pre race chat. Great stuff.

I expect Romain Grosjean to finish in the points. I’m hoping that Kevin Magnussen can also, but I’m only hoping. An 11th place finish does seem to be in the realm of possibilities. And if history has any… never mind.

Enjoy the race everyone!

2017 Chinese Grand Prix – Post Race

Kevin Magnussen is the first driver for Haas F1 Team, not named Romain Grosjean, to score formula One Championship points. He did it with an 8th place finish in the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix.

Magnussen’s 8th place finish was a move up by 6 places from his 14th starting position. Grosjean was hit was a terrible five place penalty, putting him back to the 17th position to start the race. the lap Grosjean completed would have moved him from Q2 to Q3. So between the combination of the missed third Qualifying session and a five place starting penalty, it is safe to say that the Haas F1 Team would have had their first double points day.

But onward and upward. The team is currently 7th in the 2017 F1 Constructors Championship. Magnussen’s 4 points is enough for him to secure 10th in the drivers Championship.

Onward and upward…. the next race is in one week at Bahrain. We have every reason to believe that the Haas F1 Team can fight to the top of that mid pack.

2017 Australian Grand Prix – post race

With the greatest of optimism… the Haas F1 Team laid a big egg……

With Romain Grosjean retire after lap 11, out hopes were on the shoulders of Kevin Magnussen. Those hopes were dashed around lap 40 when he was out of the race due to a suspension failure. Two DNF’s in the first race and after Grosjean had his best qualifying performance since joining Haas.

I first thought Grosjean’s Haas VF17 blew and engine… ka-blamo. But it was in fact a leak in the cooling system… Romain was blowing steam, not oil. But he was out. Magnussen on the other hand is a bit more complicated. He had a first lap contact which was later blamed for his retirement and the suspension failure. word has it that he only had a flat tire and that his suspension was good and he could have rejoined the race. But he didn’t. We’re past that now…..

I was not overly blown away by Magnussen’s performance in Australia. His times consistently lagged Grosjean all weekend. But his orders are to bring the car home.

On to China… The Haas team did well among their mid-pack rivals. Let’s see if that advantage can continue. My hope is that they have a whole myriad of improvements to roll out for the next race.

See you in China