Haas F1 team caught the attention of its spectators during the pre-season testing with its mini pit wall. The 3-seater pit wall of the American team is set to save a considerable sum of money.
Haas’ team principal Guenther Steiner explained that reducing the pit wall size by 50% has reduced freight by 400kgs.
These 400kgs, in return, help the team save up to $250,000. On top of that, it also helps support their sustainability objective.
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How does the mini pit wall help the Haas F1 team’s sustainability objectives?
Since the number of races in a championship season has increased massively, there have been concerns about the climate.
The FIA, teams and drivers have been questioned about how they plan to reduce their carbon footprint and work sustainably while travelling globally for racing.
You’re saying that they did the pit wall smaller to save money on shipping? Poor Haas (literally) pic.twitter.com/Z2JXNZANC3
— (@racing4mercedes) February 23, 2023
On top of that, logistical expenses are one of the biggest that the team has to face while travelling across the globe to race. These expenses combined with the budget cap put the team at a disadvantage.
Therefore, the Haas F1 team has come up with the impressive solution of a mini pit wall. To ensure the smooth transmission of information, the team has located engineers with the rest of the pit wall crew with all the data.
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Haas’ tactics to reduce costs are not limited to small pit walls
Moreover, this is not the only tactic the American team has opted to save money and become more efficient.
F1 journalist Chris Medland explained on Twitter that the team plans to completely reduce the ‘mini pit wall’ to a ‘wall’.
This wall could get easily transported via sea and could get replicated six times. This reduction would help the team save another $250,000 compared to the air freight.
The idea is that by saving up these spaces and money, the team would be able to use those resources on the development of the car.
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What is a Pit wall?
Once lights go out on the track, the pit wall becomes a team’s closest point of contact with their drivers on track.
It helps the team keep their driver updated with the changes in strategy and weather. They also communicate the position of opponents and even changes in the car setup through team radios.
Teams can have as many as seven members on their pit walls to monitor the race and analyse the data live. Those who get the chair at the pit wall are usually, the race engineers with the number one mechanic, strategists and some other senior staff of the team.
Some teams have a reserve pit wall crew while others rotate their staff to handle the operations smoothly.
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