Kevin Magnussen will have the honour of being the first driver to have a taste of the second Haas F1 Team machine, the VF-17, driving it on both the opening two days of the first test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at the end of February.
The Dane is new to the team after moving across from the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team, and is eager to get on track before he hands over to team-mate Romain Grosjean for days three and four.
“Hopefully, to get a lot of miles,” said Magnussen. “First of all, I’m just massively looking forward to getting back in the car. It’s been a long winter. You miss driving, even after a couple of weeks out.
“It’ll be nice just to get back in and get some laps, to get the feeling back and enjoy the car. Then, hopefully, I’ll get lots of running without too many interruptions so we can learn about the car and get as much data as possible.”
Magnussen is also ready to experience the new 2017 cars, which will have much more downforce and wider tyres, and is hoping the pre-season testing leads to a strong season for the team.
“It’s pretty exciting for me now,” added Magnussen. “I’m with a new team that I’m looking forward to starting to work with.
“I feel excited about these new cars. Everyone is expecting them to be much faster and it looks like it will be a faster car than the previous generation, and perhaps even the fastest car we’ve ever seen in Formula One. That’s very exciting for me as a driver.
“Obviously, I’m just hoping we’ll have a very strong season together. The team did really well last year. They delivered a really strong season and this year we’ll try to make use of that experience gained by the team.
“I have a feeling that everyone on the team feels more prepared and ready for the season than at this point last year.”