New Haas shows Ferrari's influence

Unlike 12 months ago, Haas is now very much up and running and established in Formula 1.

But it's harder to design and develop a new car when you are racing one at the same time, so as a resident grand prix team that's a very different challenge - especially given Haas remains a relatively small F1 outfit.

So that's a big test for Haas. It started last year very well, scoring some solid points on merit. But as the season went on, it dropped away and points were harder to come by. It's difficult to recover from a diminishing performance profile and believe in yourself enough to build the new car the right way.

And Haas is in a very tight part of the grid. Realistically, there is a big three and then everyone else, so how good a job you do there can make a very big difference.

Bringing in Kevin Magnussen, who is less excitable than Romain Grosjean, could help the team to keep its feet on the ground. He's very like his dad in the calm way he goes about things.

Looking at the car, the first thing that jumps out is the area between the front wheels and the sidepods. Only Ferrari has taken a similar approach, and while I know there is a relationship between the two it doesn't include aerodynamic design.

NOSE/FRONT WING

After having a front wing that seemed to be inspired by the 2015 Ferrari's last year, Haas has gone to the popular thumb print style for this year.

If you compare it to the Red Bull version, you can see how much more bulbous the centre section is. That will make a big difference in how the airflow reacts between the two wing mounting pillars.

Otherwise, it is a normal multi-element front wing. There are six main elements, so five slot gaps and most of the detail work is based on the DNA of the 2016 wing. While the regulations mean the front wing is now delta-shaped, the same functioning principles apply.

FRONT SUSPENSION

This is double wishbone, pushrod-operated. The concept of the geometry is similar to last year's car, but I would have expected a bit more than that from teams as they try to get a better and more consistent contact patch from the wider tyres.

If you could do that without compromising the aerodynamics too much, that would be a big asset.

BARGEBOARD AREA

This is where things start looking a lot like the Ferrari concept, which is a surprise because no other cars have taken this approach. Even though most cars have the same componentry, Haas and Ferrari have done things in a very different way with heavily undercut sidepods and delta-shaped turning vanes mounted on the side of the chassis.

Haas does have a technical relationship with Ferrari, but this seems to go beyond that. As it's an area that the 2017 regulations have opened up, there is a lot of scope to find ways to improve the airflow to the underfoor and it's up to every team to exploit it to the maximum. But this is a bit close to the Ferrari concept to be an accident (I'm sure others will be questioning how the detail in this area was defined).

SIDEPODS
As the sidepods sweep back into the Coke bottle area, you can see the cutouts on the extremeties of the floor just in front of the rear tyres.

These are there to reduce the leakage of the airflow going underneath the car in front of the tyre. The diffuser creates a low pressure area under the car and wants to pull air in from the top surface of the floor.

These cutouts reduce that from happening by acting like a skirt system and sealing the air in front of the tyre. So you get a lower pressure over a larger area of floor this way, hence more downforce.

ENGINE COVER
The engine cover is a simple profile, as tight as possible to the componentry underneath. And, like most, it has joined the shark fin brigade.

You can see the trailing edge of the shark fin is undercut as it goes down onto the engine cover profile. In mid-corner, this acts like a vane helping the airflow's angle of attack to the rear wing to be more uniform.

Normally, the airflow would accelerate over the engine cover's trailing edge and create turbulence. This fin stops that and the undercut is the compromise you make to ensure that the rear wing can still do its work.

REAR WING

The rear wing endplates follow the same trend as most teams. The louvres and cutouts are all about trying to get the low pressure area behind the rear tyre to help the rear wing and diffuser performance.

This is more important in 2017 than before because of the wider tyres and it's also more important as it helps to reduce drag. With the narrower tyres last year, they were responsible for about 35% of the total drag, but with the wider tyres it will be in excess of 40% so anything you can do to reduce that is an advantage.

DIFFUSER

These are bigger and better in 2017, with a small wing section around the trailing edge on the Haas to help with its efficiency.

Interestingly, in the overhead views you can see what appear to be two holes through the diffuser.

This may be nothing, an access hatch or something that hasn't been fitted yet. But could it be the start of an interesting rules interpretation and some kind of new double diffuser?

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- The Autosport.com Team

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