After Scoring a Disappointing 12 Points in the Standings, Haas Set to Copy Red Bull for Last 5 Races

It has been yet another disappointing season for Haas, as the American team managed to score a meager 12 points throughout the year. Stuck in a lowly P9 in the championship, as per a recent report by Speedcafe, Haas has decided to switch over to a Red Bull-inspired car design for the last five races of the season, starting from their home race.

Ever since the new regulations came into play at the start of 2022, Red Bull has been extremely dominant over the rest of the grid. The Milton Keynes outfit has managed to master the regulations, and it is quite evident by the fact that they won both the Drivers and Constructors Championship for both 2022 and 2023.

#AMuS – Haas is about to play its home game in Austin. Nico Hülkenberg’s team will be competing there with a special paint job and a completely modified VF-23. What the renderings reveal about the major expansion stage.https://t.co/iQlUH04ekj

— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) October 17, 2023

Even though most of the teams started out in 2022 with their own design philosophy, almost all of them slowly realized that the Red Bull style was the way to go. Now, Gunther Steiner has also admitted to the same and is looking towards following suit.

Haas set to go down the Red Bull path

The Red Bull design philosophy essentially follows the ‘downwash’ bodywork concept. This refers to the use of wide side pods that redirect the airflow to the rear of the car.

As per Guenther Steiner, Haas will feature a whole new bodywork design, including the likes of the floor, engine cover, side pod inlet, side-pods, quarter panel, and padding gills. He confirmed that this design change would continue over to next year.

Guenther provides additional insight on the aero concept shift on the #VF23 ahead of the new upgrade package arriving in Austin 🇺🇸

Read more in his #USGP Q&A 👉 https://t.co/jJ5PJCOW4t#HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/sumhzq8Lmx

— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) October 17, 2023

The team principal explained that they realized that getting any more performance gains from their current design wouldn’t be possible. Steiner said, “Creating more downforce and less drag, it just wasn’t there anymore, so we needed to change the concept to which is commonly known as the ‘Red Bull concept’ or the ‘downwash concept.”

The design change is part of a much bigger picture

Both of the Haas drivers are optimistic about the design change and are hoping for a major improvement. The main issue that they are hoping to overcome is the problem of high tire degradation when the VF-23 gets stuck in traffic.

However, Kevin Magnussen also explained that this change is part of a much bigger picture. This would help the team learn a lot and help them decide on their design director for the 2024 season.