Will Haas's Ferrari-inspired design cure its woes?

Is it back to business as usual for Haas? After 2019's comedy of errors, in which everything that could go wrong did for Gene Haas's eponymous outfit, 2020 should be the result of learning from all of last season's mistakes.

Most significantly, the return of the typical grey-and-red colours should hopefully take the bitter aftertaste away from the Rich Energy debacle - but a simple lick of paint isn't going to rectify the performance woes that the recalcitrant VF-19 lumbered the driver pairing of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen with.

Luckily, the VF-20 draws some inspiration from a car that enjoyed success last season - the front end and engine cover area bear unmistakeable similarities to the Ferrari SF90, underlining the continuation of the close technical relationship between the two teams.

At the end of 2019, Haas tested a Ferrari-style front wing in a bid to alleviate the problems that last year's car suffered in getting the tyres within the ideal working window throughout a race distance. After numerous upgrade packages misfired and the team spent a disproportionate amount of the season running Grosjean and Magnussen on different-spec packages in order to understand just what was going on with the car, those problems were allegedly traced back to the front wing.

It looks as though the anhedral wing design was a step in the right direction, and so Haas has presented its launch car with a distinctly Ferrari-inspired design in order to replicate the form of its protectorate team. Sure, the Ferrari had its own foibles, but the occasional challenge for victories is certainly a more enviable position to be in than rapid descents through the field on race day.

The turning vanes and bargeboards are rooted in the Hockenheim package Haas debuted in 2019 - to admittedly little effect - with the addition of serrations and winglets

The objective of that wing design is to turn as much airflow around the front of the car as possible, and it's something of a departure compared to the design Haas used last season - which was more rooted in the 'deep-pan' wings used at the start of the year. There were very few changes to that wing last season, perhaps as a result of the problems the team faced, and the overhaul in concept will have to be something Haas quickly develops an understanding of in testing to hit the ground running in 2020.

Those Ferrari-esque details extend to the endplates too, with a square cut-out in the top trailing edge to assist the front wing with its endeavours to throw air around the front tyres, while the footplate is also rooted in the design that the SF90 first sported in France last year. That includes a flattened latter half to release the developed vortex earlier, also allowing for a small fin to improve that airflow guidance.

And the comparisons with Ferrari are not about to abate. In 2019, Ferrari enacted a performance turnaround with the nostril nose, which added a new vein of downforce for the team to tap into. Haas has followed suit for 2020, installing two aerofoils between the wing pylons and the crash structure to give the drivers more confidence with the front end.

Under the nose, the car features a litany of flow conditioners to pick up the vortices generated by the front wing tips and bring it around to the bargeboards. The S-duct also remains on the car, which takes airflow from a relatively stagnant portion of the nose section and brings it on top of the chassis bulkhead.

Like an image-obsessed celebrity approaching middle-age, Haas has opted for a little bit of a tummy tuck to encase the Ferrari powertrain laying inside a little bit more tightly. The design persists with the letterbox inlets - another Ferrari innovation - which means that the team can lower the side impact structure. Those together improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the car, lower the centre of gravity and minimise any inlet blockage from the suspension components.

Haas has also persisted with its shark fin design, which features a small cut-out at the top - just behind the inlet - to let the airflow over the top wash down a little, also assisted by a small fin which helps to turn the air downwards too.

The mirrors are, unlike the rest of the car, similar to how Mercedes set out its design last season. While the regulations dictate a marginally revised position for the mirrors, the mountings have been used to create an aerodynamic shroud around them to minimise the drag that they produce. By directing airflow downwards over the top, the turbulence generated by the mirror is kept within a smaller area to reduce their overall drag penalty.

The turning vanes and bargeboards are rooted in the Hockenheim package that Haas debuted last season - to admittedly little effect - with further additions of little serrations and winglets to provide a more aggressive attempt to turn air around the increased undercut of the sidepod.

It has also added fins to the floor to increase the outwash effect, bringing air around the rear tyres to reduce the amount of turbulence entering the floor.

The inlet above the driver's head has been reconfigured too, switching to a triangular arrangement to better replicate - you guessed it - the Ferrari style. Underneath the main inlet, there's a secondary aperture to feed the powertrain systems further.

There has been a design trend over the past couple of seasons in which the engine cover has been expanded to fit in the intercooler and radiators, allowing the sidepods to be even smaller, but Haas has stuck with the Ferrari-style arrangement thus far. This should create a smoother transition of airflow to the rear wing.

The rear-wing endplates are an undoubtedly familiar design to those who stayed abreast of Haas's 2019 developments, using the twisted strake design to add some extra options in the way the endplates are used.

Those strakes can not only help to break up the rear wing, but can also be used to enhance the low-pressure zone behind the car to improve the overall suction produced by the rear wing and diffuser.

When will we know if Haas has truly turned the corner? One suspects that, based on last year, it won't be until the second round that the car starts to show its true colours

Otherwise, the rear wing elements are conventional and feature little in the way of mainplane curvature. They are attached to the car using the customary swan-neck wing mounts - which increase the suction area underneath the wing.

In addition to that, there's a coat-hanger T-wing at the rear of the shark-fin - as used last season at intermittent stages. This is an area of the car that is frequently customised depending on the demands of the circuit, as it offers a smidgen of extra downforce in a small, exploitable area of the engine cover.

The exhausts also offer clues about how Ferrari may set out its design, and Haas has opted for a larger main outlet with a smaller wastegate positioned above. In Abu Dhabi last year, Ferrari opted for a twin wastegate design in a possible attempt to blow the rear wing, but it appears the twin-stacked pipes remain the chosen design.

When will we know if Haas has truly turned the corner? One suspects that, if last year is anything to go by, it won't be until the second round in Bahrain that the car starts to show its true colours.

Testing last season was impressive, save for a few engine gremlins, and the team always performs particularly well at Albert Park - at least, if all four wheels manage to remain on the car.

The VF-20 must be a less capricious beast than its predecessor. If not, then the suggestion is that not only has the Haas technical team failed to learn from its 2019 miscalculations, but it may also cast doubt into the mind of Gene Haas over the long-term viability of his F1 aspirations.

After all, if Haas can't bounce back this year - will it ever?