Tag: formula1

2019 Russian Grand Prix

After 28 laps of racing the Ferrari of Sebastian  Vettel experienced an MGU failure and retired from the race. This caused a yellow flag condition and allowed the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton to pit and gain the undercut advantage over the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Vettel’s comment over the team radio was music to every F1 fan’s ears, “bring back the fucking V12’s”.

2019 Russian Grand Prix

Romain Grosjean started 8th, and Kevin Magnussen 11th.
Magnussen got a great start and gained 3 positions by turn 3. Romain Grosjean retired from the race on the first lap as Daniel Ricciardo hit Grosjean in turn 3 and sent the Haas car into the wall, and out of the race.

At the end of the lap 28 incident, the Hass of Kevin Magnussen landed in 6th position when the race resumed at lap 33. At this point of the race the entire field had pitted and would make the remaining race distance without stopping. It was a 20 lap sprint for the checkered flag. 

But it was Sebastian Vettel who was the prime mover as he jetted from third, past the number 2 car of Hamilton, into the slipstream of his teammate Charles Leclerc and into the lead by turn 3

Lap 43, Magnussen was passed by the Redbull of Alex Albon. On lap 44, Magnussen was passed by the pink Racing Point of Sergio Perez… as Magnussen droped to P8. 

Lap 47, Kevin Magnussen received a 5 second time penalty for leaving the track limits, which at the time of the penalty would have put the Haas car out of the top 10 points position. But as it turned out, KMags was able to make up enough time on track so as to only drop one position. Kevin Magnussen finished 9th, scoring 2 championship points for the Haas F1 Team.

Yea, it was a bit heart wrenching to see Grosjean out of the race on lap 1. 

Next up on October 13th is the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka International Racing Course. Suzuka is one of the great tracks on the Formula 1 circuit. Until then, Sayōnara.

2018 French Grand Prix

The Haas F1 cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean locked out row 5 to start the French Grand Prix in 9th and 10 positions.

It was the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel starting in 5th position which started the trouble in turn 1. Vettel ran into the back of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, damaging Vettel’s front wing and puncturing Bottas’s rear tire. Further back, in turn 3, the Force India of Esteban Ocon was taken out when Pierre Gasley lost control of his Toro Rosso, eliminating the two Frenchmen on the first lap of their home grand prix. By the end of lap 1, Kevin Magnussen ended up in the 5th position and Grosjean 8th.

Romain Grosjean would end up getting blamed for the incident, and receive a 5 second penalty for causing the incident with Ocon and Gasley. So one Frenchman took out the other two Frenchman in the first lap of the French Grand Prix race. We must question Grosjean’s on track antics some time. How much longer does Haas keep this guy? I digress…

It was lap 20 when the Mercedes Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas recovered from last place, to pass Romain Grosjean, dropping Grosjean to 11th position. Magnussen pitted in lap 29, and returned to the track in 13th position. Grosjean pitted on lap 35 from 8th position, and returned to the grid in last place, 17th.

A full course caution on lap 48 caused by a blown tire on the Williams of Lance Stroll caused the race to finish under yellow. Kevin Magnussen was able to hold off the attack of Bottas and finish the race in P6. Grosjean finished 11th.

Lewis Hamilton would lead every lap and win the race. Kimi Raikkonen finished second in his Ferrari, and max Verstappen third in his RedBull.

Next, we are on to the Redbullring for the Austrian Grand Prix!!!

2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Post Race

Hopes for the Haas F1 Team were high going into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. With 47 points, American team was only 2 points behind the 7th place Renault Team. And Renault trailed Toro Rosso by 4 points, they had 53 points.

Neither of the two Toro Rosso or Haas cars scored points. Carlos Sainz had to retire his Lotus when on lap 32 the wheel nut was never replaced on his left front wheel after the tire was replaced. Nico Hulkenberg was in 6th place when Sainz retired, and that is where Hulkenberg finished.The 6th place finish added 6 construction points for Renault which gave them a total of 55, taking 6th place in the constructors championship from Toro Rosso.

For Haas… the 11th place finish is a reminder that we’re still working through some of our rookie problems. The rookie year may only include the first year, but they are seemingly still seeing some problems for the first time. So it takes time. But by all accounts, the Haas car is fast in a straight line. I’m also hearing on NBC that Haas has been focusing on their aero package; new designed and new engineering staff.

But hey, with 8th place, Haas F1 beat both McLaren F1 this year and Renault in 2016. But Haas needs fast and reliable power from Ferrari for 2018.

Regarding the drivers, Romain Grosjean actually scored one less point this year. In 2016, Grosjean was the only Haas driver to score any points. The top 10 race finishers score points in Formula 1. Esteban Gutierrez finished in 11th place, 5 times. Kevin Magnussen delivered 19 points for the Haas team in 2017.

The 19 points for Magnussen places him 14 in this years drivers companionship while Romain Grosjean finished 13th with his 28 points.

So that’s it. Thanksgiving weekend is over in the United States, the Formula 1 season is over, and the holidays officially begin.

We would like to extend a great thank you to the members of the Haas F1 Team. You are giving American Formula 1 fans a team they can be proud of. Happy Holidays to you all and good luck with that 2018 design!!

2017 Singapore Grand Prix – Post Race

The Formula 1 Grand Prix at Singapore is perhaps one of the most exotic races on the F1 calendar. It is a night race which takes place on a lighted street circuit on the streets of Singapore, and has a video game aspect to the broadcast. The political intrigue surrounding the country entices feelings of a still far off place with back alleys and lurking uncertainties. In this regard, the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix did not disappoint.

Rain was falling before the race as teams prepared their cars on the starting grid. The rain stopped by the start of the race, but it was wet. With Vettel on pole and Verstappen lined up to his left on the front row, the race start was a sprint to turn one. As Vettel launched for his start he started to fade sharply to the left in an attempt to block the Redbull of Max Verstappen. What Vettel did not realize was that the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen was closing to the inside, and the gap between the three cars did close rather quickly. By the time they reached turn 1 the three cars smashed and were out of the race. I must say that I did predict that Vettel nor Verstappen would make it past turn 1. Max and Seb have similar approaches to dealing with aggression; their fists are already clinched and ready to throw. Clearly it was Vettels fault. But I digress…

As to the race… Romain Grosjean get the Haas F1 Fans Mail Man Award f.or delivering points to Gene Haas. In a very ho hum fashion Romain Grosjean qualified 15th. He just squeaked into the second qualifying round as his teammate Kevin Magnussen did not and started 16th. But in the end Grosjean finished in 9th place and earned 2 points for both himself and the Haas F1 Team.

Kevin Magnussen did not have such a ho hum race but did not finish. On the 26th lap of the race the Haas Team decided to be the first team to try full dry tires. Kevin Magnussen pitted for a set of Ultrasoft Pirelli’s and his lap times began to drop significantly. But despite his jump in speed he never really capitalized on the improvement. The rest of the field jumped to dry tires and Magnussen remained in the P13 position. On the 51st lap of the race KMags lost the hybrid drive in his Haas VF-17, and his day was done.

So Haas gets 2 points… in 8th place for the constructors championship with 37 points.  In two weeks, Malaysia!

2017 CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS

POS TEAM PTS
1 MERCEDES 475
2 FERRARI 373
3 RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 230
4 FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 124
5 WILLIAMS MERCEDES 59
6 TORO ROSSO 52
7 RENAULT 42
8 HAAS FERRARI 37
9 MCLAREN HONDA 17
10 SAUBER FERRARI 5

 

2017 Hungarian Grand Prix – Race Review

The 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix is in the books for the Haas F1 Team…. and that is a good place for it. After a few days of scheduled testing this week the team will all go home and take their FIA mandated vacations.

Performance for all three practice sessions for the Grand Prix weekend were uninspiring. Romain Grosjean achieved the best practice result and placed 15th in the third practice. Grosjean also qualified 15th for the race while Kevin Magnussen qualified 16th.

It was a good race. Daniel Riccardo was side swiped buy his team mate Max Verstappen on the very first lap. A radiator on Riccardo’s car was damaged and coolant was expressed on the car and track; his Redbull was broken, by another Redbull. Riccardo was pissed and beside himself to find restraint in the interview which followed immediately after returning to the paddock. It was the first “first lap” retirement of his career according to the NBC broadcast.

On lap 21 Magnussen was running 13th and Grosjean 16th when Haas race control informed Grosjean that he had “low tire pressure on the left front”.. his response… “wonderful”. Grosjean pits and all seems right with the broadcast. Just as Leigh Diffy mentions that it “has not been a good weekend for Haas”, Roman Grosjean was instructed to “stop the car”…

…and the Haas VR17 drops a big turd on the track. It really stunk up the place…

It was not a pretty sight. They crossed a wheel nut on one of the new wheels, and released the car…. The crew member on the right rear of the car has his arms crosses in the universal marshaling language of STOP, as the car drove away! Hindsight being what it is, and as fans, we’re better off not getting into the shoulda, coulda, woulda’s of what happened…. Shit happens! Lap 21 and the number 8 car of Grosjean is out while the number 20 car of Kevin Magnussen was running in 13th .

While the Haas team held a debrief of the debacle, the Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen lead the race 1 -2 respectively. They finish the race in the same order. And with that win Vettel (202 points) established a 24 point gap between himself and Lewis Hamilton (188 points) of Mercedes, for the drivers construction.

Lewis Hamilton finished 4th. On lap 47 The Mercedes Team issued orders for Valtteri Bottas to relinquish his position. Hamilton was running strong and the team he was running fast enough to fight ahead with the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.  I’ll spare the details, but Lewis could not catch Kimi… Lewis Hamilton relinquished 3 championship points when he filed in behind Bottas on the last turn of the last lap and handed the third podium position back to Valtteri Bottas. It happened at the very last moment before crossing the finish line.

But from every race, we look for a take away. And for the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix we found one, and we have Kevin Magnussen to thank for it. KMags delivered an 11th place finish., though the official race results placed Magnussen at 13th place. Magnussen received 2 points against his F1 Superlicense and a 5 second penalty for a race incident involving German driver Nico Hulkenberg.  Those 5 seconds cost him two positions on the result from 11th to 13th.

On lap 61 Magnussen forced Hulkenberg wide as the German tried to execute a pass on the outside. Magnussen defended and faded to the right as the Renault of Hulkenberg tried to pass Magnussen on a bending left sweeping turn.  Magnussen made what can be classified as a blocking move, and the yellow Renault was eating dust… I digress…

The 5 second penalty cost the team 2 meaningless positions on the final result. Magnussen received a 2 point penalty on his license. But Nico Hulkenberg was not happy.  Nico Hulkenberg called Magnussen “the most unsporting driver”… Haas F1 Team boss Gunther Steiner came to his drivers defense calling Hulkenberg “a bully”.  But Magnussen’s response to Hulkenberg was cataclysmic in its impact… and an all timer!

Kevin Magnussen told Nico Hulkenberg to “suck my balls honey”…

Aside from delivering social media gold to the F1 world… KMags set a no prisoners mentality.  Nothing brings a team together better than a common enemy… a chip they can carry around over their vacation break.

From a racing perspective, the race was meaningless. The Haas Team is in 7th place for the constructors championship with 29 points. Renault is behind them in 8th with 26 points. Last year the team finished the season with 29 points, so They’ve scored level with last years totals, and we still have the entire second half of the season ahead of us.

But here we are in the second year for the American team. They are leading Renault. Renault built it’s first purpose built race car in 1907, The Racing Roadster. That car went on to win the first ever race called a “Grand Prix”.

So the Haas F1 Team will enter their sophomore summer break amidst a bit of controversy.  Kevin Magnussen is telling the competition to “suckmyballshoney” and the Haas fans love it. The @HaasF1Fans twitter feed was alive with some “Vikings” ready to jump in on the fight. That is a clan I will not mess with, and that is the message that The Haas F1 Team is sending…

So enjoy your break from F1 everyone. Look for HaasF1Fans on Facebook and twitter.

2017 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying – Romain Grosjean Shines!

Romain Grosjean qualified 8th for the Monaco Grand Prix. The Haas  car performed well despite a very near miss by Grosjean when he spun at Mirabeau during the second stage of qualifying.

Both Grosjean and the Haas car performed well. the car also performed well for Kevin Magnussen. KMags was on an absolute flier during Q2 when he was blocked on track by none other than the….. Languishing Lewis Hamilton. As a result, Magnussen will start the race in P13.

If ever there was an opportunity for the Haas F1 Team to campaign two cars in a third stage of qualifying, it was today.  The cars of  Force India driven by Sergio Perez and the Toro Roso car of Carlos Sainz both out paced the Haas machine of Grosjean. This keeps Haas third in that pecking order behind the leaders. But the car has out performed most fans expectations. Maybe I’ll read about brake problems, but I’ve not heard a peep of the “B” word…

Regarding Lewis……

I don’t think the problem was the car. He seemed to be over inputting everything. The oversteer had him sideways. And all of that vertical slip is time…. and if piled up in heaps. He knows this track as well as anyone. His teammate was first after the Ferrari’s. Lewis can tend to be a bit of emotional about things at times while in the cockpit. That emotion generally serves him well. We’ve seen Lewis tear up the field from the back of the grid. But no one does that at Monaco…

Regarding Pole…. Kimi Raikkonen was brilliant. 4/100’s of a second separate the first 3 cars of Raikkonen, Vettel, and Bottas. The Ferrari’s were delivering top performance for their drivers. Sebastian Vettel was grabbing all of the attention before qualifying. He, Like Hamilton, have a storied record at Monaco, but only has one win in 2011. Hamilton has won the Monaco Grand Prix twice, in 2008 and last years 2016 race.

As you may recall, Hamilton;s 2016 victory was tainted with the controversy of Justin Bieber.  Upon taking his magnum of victory Campaign, he gave the first sip to Bieber. The 2017 Monaco Grand Prix promises to be a Bieber Free Event… as Lewis has no shot at a victory. His best hope is for attrition at the front of the field.

But for the Haas F1 team? They are in a good position to score double points.There will be some failures in front of Magnussen.  He has had better than averages race starts and has been faster than his team mate at times. With some luck and effective strategy, the Haas team can see some success at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix.

 

2017 SEASON 2

The 2017 Formula 1 racing season is upon us, and the second for the Haas F1 Team. Ten teams are gathered in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix.

Kevin Magnussen has joined Romain Grosjean as the second Haas F1 driver. I think KMags will be fantastic. He is equally if not more aggressive than his predecessor and has demonstrated better race day judgement.  There is not much we can talk about with the drivers. Their numbers and on track performance will say it all.

Roman Grosjean is easy to like and I believe still the best driver on the Haas F1 team. Esteban Gutierrez was a built choice that came along with the 2016 deal with Ferrari. Haas did not have much choice in that seat position. I believe Guiteeriez cost the team some points, but not any  positions in the teams 8th place in the 2016 Formula 1 Constructors Championship, with 29 points. The Toro Rosso F1 Team finished ahead of them in 7th place with 63 points.  No driver could have made a difference of 34 points.

I think Kevin Magnussen will prove to be the difference in 2017. I’m expecting the fight for points to be difficult, and the margins between team totals to be closer. When the margins are tight you bring in a closer, and KMags will prove to be the difference on that side of the garage and I do expect at least one dual points race. KMags is the closer!

The 2017 version of the Haas F1 car carries the VF17 nomenclature. VF stands for Very first and was originally used on their very first car for the 2016 season, the VF16. I guess Gene liked the sound of the name or just didn’t care, so we got the VF17. Next year we’ll probably get the VF18…

The Haas VF17 is striking.

Silver gunmetal Metallic Grey is featured. they are drawing from the same color pallet as last year, which is also the same for their NASCAR team. I was not a huge fan of last
years livery, through it did grow on me.    By the end of the 2016 season we had all become accustomed to the car. If you’ll recall, white started out as the predominating color and somewhere along the line it went to silver. Now here we are at a darker gray, and I really like it. I don’t like the black along the bottom of any car. The details of the car become increasing more difficult to see on TV with dark cars. I was aghast with the all black McLaren car with the splash of a red, the Nike swoop.

So I like the 2017 Haas F1 livery, but I do not love it. The dark gray is very close to that of the 2014 Sauber. Hands raised, who else thought “Sauber” when they saw the 2017 Haas car?

Haas does not sell a full range of automobiles to this world wide market, like Mercedes,  they’re selling C-N-C Milling Machines. Haas Automation has very little room for change in their color scheme. Moving away from the traditional color pallet does not serve the marketing of Haas Automation in any way.

Our expectations for future cars should be soundly set regarding the the color of any additional Haas cars. It would take a complete re-branding of Haas Automation to deep metallic Shelby Blue to give me the car I want. So I’ll stick with Red, grey and black. As long as that goose keeps laying golden eggs, I’m happy with gray cars.  It also means we’re safe from pink ones too.

The performance of the 2017 car is… eh, we don’t know. No one knows. Testing helps us break the field down into class sizable chunks. But so much can change throughout the season, and it does. The Haas F1 Team has proven that they can match any other team on the grid when it comes to “race day management”. And it is that overall management aspect which Gene Haas deliverd from day one that allowed him to take advantage of opportunities when they appeared. I highly suspect that the Renault Team will be at the front of the pack within one year. So the way I see it, the beginning of the year is the best opportunity the Haas Team will have to steal some points early.

Even towards the end of the 2016 season, the Mclaren’s were responsible for some of those 10th place finishes, which kept the Haas team from the points. the Haas team finished in 11th place, EIGHT times in 2016. There were other teams with at least a couple of 10th place finishes; Williams, Force India. But no one had more 11th place finishes than Haas F1….. yea us

 

The Renault F1 Team will be a formidable threat to Haas. In many ways this is like the first car from the Renault Team. Last years car was an homogenization of a chassis designed for a Mercedes Engine matched with a Renault power unit. It all depends on that Renault engine. The 2016 Ferrari  engines in those Haas cars did prove reliable. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I believe brakes were a bigger cause of race retirements than anything else… Brakes are technical and we’ll discuss that at another time. But with the demise of the Manor F1 Team, Haas has no one that they can really “kick around”. Every other team on the grid has strong backing and can provide competitive performance on race day

This is how Gary Anderson from Autosport weights the performance for the teams after testing… (he used his method of adjusting for variables like fuel load, tire type etc…

ADJUSTED LAP TIMES
1 Ferrari 1m19.202s
2 Mercedes 1m19.555s
3 Renault 1m20.146s
4 Red Bull 1m20.353s
5 Williams 1m20.876s
6 Sauber 1m21.374s
7 Haas 1m21.818s
8 Force India 1m22.059s
9 Toro Rosso 1m22.156s
10 McLaren 1m22.448s

What this indicates is a performance boost for the Ferrari teams.  Toro Rosso has jumped to Renault power while Force India has remained with Mercedes power.

So, who knows….. My prediction, the team finishes 8th again. This is going to be a much harder fought 8th place for the American car.

 

 

 

 

2016 Italian Grand Prix – Pre Race

Esteban Gutiérrez has qualified 10th for the 2016 Italian Grand Prix. He is the first driver to take a Haas F1 car into the third qualifying round for any race.

The team rolled out a special wing for the Italian Grand Prix.  The leading edge of the wing is shaped in the form of a “W”.

Mercedes is utilizing a wing with a leading edge shaped like an elongated V. But the Haas design doubles this form factor in a waving fashion.  Visually the two wings look different from the standard flat plank the Haas team and most others run. But what is the advantage of the wave in the wing? How does this help the car go faster? Does it provide more or less downforce then a standard wing? These are the many questions I was asking, and not a single NBC analyst dared to tackle the design impact, including Steve Matchette. I was disappointed.

The new wing on the Haas F1 car has two intended purposes; greater downforce and better stability in high speed turns. Down force is not the only application of Bernoulli’s principle at work here, and not what Haas and AMG Mercedes are chasing with their designs.

Building curves into the wing effectively makes it longer. Just as a shoe lace looks shorter while in the package, it stretches out when you unwind it. In the same way both Haas and Mercedes have done this. Adding a second wing is an alternate approach to lengthening the wing. So why the wave? Wouldn’t a wave   increase the drag? Well yes is does to an extent. And it creates vertical down force. But the teams are chasing another aeronautical dynamic, the vertical component of lift.

The vertical component of lift is what allows air planes to turn. Ailerons on the wings is how the pilot controls this force, along with their rudder and elevator. As the pilot turns his wheel to the left, the aileron on the right drops down, which causes the wing to go up. The lift which raises the plane can be directed sideways and cause the plane to turn. To assist in turning an airplane, some wings are not flat but have an upward bend built into it, or dihedral. Remember that a race car wing is like an airplane wing, but upside down . So the AMG Mercedes uses a single bend inverted design or dihedral. The Haas wing has 2 bends on each side, polyhedral.

So as the Haas and AMG Mercedes cars are driving in a straight line there are downward forces coming off of the wing, perpendicular to the wing surface. The AMG Mercedes wing spreads it’s down force in the shape of an umbrella. The downward forces on the Haas wing spread in an even more lateral or sideways direction. As the car enters a turn the down forces on the back of the car will become asymmetrical. The vertical component of lift can be used to help get the car around the corner. I suspect that these aerodynamics are only beneficial at high speeds. So at a track with high speed turns, like Monza, the benefits can be realized. On a slower track the beneficial vertical down force may be negligible and drag inducing. It would require a conversation with the design team to fully understand the aerodynamic nuances… wouldn’t that be cool! I digress…

So the new Haas wing is exciting. The car is faster and lookes very stable…

From the beginning I’ve been touting the reliability of the Haas Team… reliability… race craft… over and over. Well today Esteban Gutierrez essentially addressed my point in an interview with Will Buxton, and i paraphrase, ” since we’ve been consistent we’ve then been able to focus on things that will help us”. The reliability s paying off. After all of those 11th place finishes, he has broken into the top 10.

Grosjean qualified 12th but will start 17th due to a 5 place penalty for his transmission swap. Yes I call it a transmission, not a gearbox. My 5 speed Honda Accord has a gearbox!

Again it comes down to the start. Esteban and Romain have both had good starts and escaped turn 1 unscathed. Let’s believe the same is going to happen. Dare I say they could have not one but two cars in points? I believe Esteban Gutierrez will score his first points for Haas F1. And if Grosjean can manage his tires, I believe he can move up. Points are not out of the question for both drivers. The car’s were especially fast in qualifying. The Team did not post a time for Gutierrez until the very end of Q3, which concerned me. But I believe they were conceding the effort. P10 puts him on the outside of the track and a safer vantage point into turn 1. It was a safe play…

Can the team maintain it’s advantage throughout the race? Have the Haas cars improved? It sure looks like it. A single mistake by a competitor could make the difference. The Haas Team has not made any significant mistakes on race day. This is going to be an exciting and fast race.

Go Haas F1 Team!!!!

It’s Monza… and the Americans are in the house!!!

 

 

 

2016 Spanish Grand Prix – Race Final

Well, in racing there is only one position that counts, and Max Verstappen was that guy.

But on the day we’d see Formula 1’s youngest driver win a  Championship race, the daily race grind of development continued in the Haas F1 Garage. The 56th of 66 laps saw Romain Grosjean retire. First with a nose issue than a braking issue doomed his race.

Esteban Gutierrez could not hold onto that final points position and landed in 11th place. We are yet to see the young Mexican bring home points for the Haas F1 Team. His tires faded and he could not hold that 10th spot. this was Esteban’s opportunity to take his drive to the next level and he could not. His car has not been reliable and he has express apprehension about being blamed for team issues. And it is in his self-defense that he creates a gap between him and the team. The team should be making these statements to cover the driver. Is there a riff? Esteban does seem to be somewhat reactive to situations and it’s probably best that camera’s not be present at those moments. A single sound bite can change everything.

So The Haas F1 team scored no points and only one car completed the race. My goal for the team was to have two cars complete the race with one in points. But Barcelona was the first benchmark for the team.

Grosjean was fighting in the points when he had to retire. So the performance is in the car. We’ve got 5 races in the books. We’ve his the first milestone for the team and the fans are optimistic. It is not realistic to judge the progress of the Haas F1 Team on a weekly basis. We want a winner every week, but the rookie team is still in development. Progress can be measured in 4-5 race increments. I believe we can expect a continually steady climb in the team’s performance.

Gene Haas wants to see CNC machines, but on race day it’s all about winning!

Bring on Monaco!!! It is going to be absolutely fantastic!!!!!!

2016 Spanish Grand Prix – Some Pre-race Sangria

It is Saturday night on the East Coast of the United States. The Spanish Grand prix is tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM.  Europe means 8 AM sunday races… yes!

If the F1 season was a football game we’d be starting the second quarter. The team has established a 4 race baseline and are starting to up their expectations. Grosjean and Gutierrez qualified 14thand 16th.  Both cars made it out of the first qualifying session and were eliminated in the second. Yes it is racing and second place is the first looser.  Getting both cars into Q2 is a reasonable expectation or target for success.

Coming into Spain our hopes were raised just slightly because Catalunya Madrid is the only track on the schedule that the team had performance data on.  Grosjean complained that the car was undrivable during practice. They dialed the car back to the Sochi setup and started over. Romain seemed happier with his performance. Or perhaps he was just in a more guarded mindset during the post qualifying media scrum.

The Haas F1 team seems to be consistently qualifying into the area of 12th to 16th positions. Their consistency and reliability have been the hall marks for the team so far. Gains by Mclaren and Renault will keep the mid-pack pressure on the team.

But for the Spanish Grand Prix… again I expect at least 1 car in the points. My target for the team is to have one car in points per race. To maintain that goal we’ll need to see both drivers in points at some point since they have only 1 race so far without a driver in the points.

I expect Grosjean to be in points. He is going to extend the range of his tires and maximize those mediums. He has 2 sets of Hard Compound Pirelli’s. Will we see hard compounds in the race?

prediction: Grosjean in the points.

Not a very exciting journal entry. all of the excitement this race was about Max Verstappen replacing Dany Kvyat at Redbull. I predict a critical mistake by the over zealous Belgian.