Haas boss hits back at new 'white Ferrari' jibe
Jul.29 - Team boss Gunther Steiner has defended Haas amid claims the updated car revealed in Hungary might aptly be described as a 'white Ferrari'.
Only Kevin Magnussen will be at the wheel of the American team's long-awaited update this weekend in Budapest, with early photos of the car revealing key visual similarities to engine supplier Ferrari's 2022 racer.
But Steiner openly admits that Haas was inspired by Ferrari's aerodynamic concept.
HUNGARORING, HUNGARY - JULY 29: Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22 during the Hungarian GP at Hungaroring on Friday July 29, 2022 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Andy Hone / LAT Images)
"I would say quite a lot, yes. Is there something wrong with that?" he told Ekstra Bladet newspaper.
When asked if he expects to be accused of copying, Steiner hit back: "I expect to be fast.
"If someone says we copied, I would say 'Why would we copy a Williams?' Not to be disrespectful, but it's a completely different concept and they're slower than us.
"So if you copy, you copy the best, and right now it's Ferrari and Red Bull," Steiner insisted.
"We have the same engine as Ferrari, the same gearbox and we have the same suspension. They win races, so why copy others? One plus one still equals two."
Mick Schumacher will be driving the older specification car in Hungary this weekend because of a spate of crashes eating into the team's spare parts.
But Steiner insists it will be useful to compare the old versus new specifications side-by-side.
"I just hope we can see in the data that the car is doing what it's supposed to do," he said.
"We can put the new and the old car side by side. If the data shows that we made the right choice, then we just need to find the right setup.
"That's the next step, because we have to use the downforce in the best way possible."
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It kind of makes sense that they build one "prototype" to see how it works rather than two, just in case it doesn't work out. They'll still have to freeze the design at some point and go from the new baseline whether it answers all the mail or not.
In the meantime, Mick gets to use Magnusen's old hangar-queen chassis for spares in case of a shunt. Sounds like Haas management is being pragmatic with how they execute on design changes. Good for them.
Low financing leads to the need to be frugal
They do a good job with the money 💰 they have
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