Both Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen will run with the upgraded VF-19 this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix after the three-race trial of split specifications has come to an end.
Grosjean had been using the Australian Grand Prix-spec car during the past three races in Great Britain, Germany and Hungary but he, along with team-mate Magnussen, will both use the same spec this weekend in Belgium, which is an update on what the Dane was using in that time.
Guenther Steiner, the team principal of the Haas F1 Team, says the split specification has helped the team learn a lot about what they needed to address with the VF-19, and it is hoped the developments being brought to the car can push them forward in the pecking order.
“For Spa we will go with the upgraded car, which we ran at Hockenheim,” said Steiner. “We’ve learned quite a bit out of it and tried to improve the car by changing some of the components.
“Both cars will be the same spec, and hopefully we can still learn more about it.”
Haas currently sit ninth in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead only of the ailing Williams Racing team, with Magnussen and Grosjean having only finished inside the points six times between them.
However, such is the tightness of the midfield – Haas are only sixteen points away from Scuderia Toro Rosso in fifth – Steiner hopes the team can move up that order across the remaining nine Grand Prix of 2019.
“Everything is possible, but it is difficult as our car doesn’t perform well in races, and that’s where you score the points,” admits Steiner. “Nevertheless, we will be trying hard to pick up whatever we can.
“Hopefully, we can get a few more results, and then we’ll see how we end up in the standings.”
Steiner has revealed that whilst there is still some focus being put in to developing the VF-19, some attention has already moved to designing and developing the 2020 machine.
“The focus has already switched, partly, to the 2020 car,” Steiner revealed. “We need to see what we can come up with in the wind tunnel, with the small developments we do there for the 2019 car, and if we bring any upgrade kits.
“We don’t know yet.”
