Moneygram Haas F1 Team’s new 2023 challenger, the VF-23, made its on-track debut at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon.
Haas unveiled their new livery alongside their new title sponsor, Moneygram, last week and yesterday saw Haas have a shakedown run at Silverstone following Oracle Red Bull Racing, who did it a day earlier.
Haas have switched their driver lineup ahead of the new season, with Kevin Magnussen now racing alongside seasoned veteran Nico Hülkenberg, who has been out of the sport for three years. Hülkenberg, who replaced Mick Schumacher for Haas, boasts an impressive career outperforming his machinery multiple times but remains the driver with the most starts without finishing on the podium.
Haas will be hoping a new car and a new driver in their lineup will help push them up the constructors’ championship, and help them improve on an eighth-placed finish last season. Haas Technical Director Simone Resta spoke on the proposing issues that the majority of the Formula 1 teams faced last season and how they’ve gone about fixing the issue ahead of the new season.
“As mentioned, the floor will be modified and is going to be the biggest change of the car in terms of regulation. It’s aimed to improve porpoising and I suppose it will cost everyone a little bit of performance, but at the start of the last year everyone has learned so much that I believe everyone will be in a much better place in terms of the porpoising characteristics of these new cars.”
Resta also touched on what they’ve been working on with the 2023 car and how they can top a year, which saw the team’s first pole position in Formula 1.
“We’re looking at all main areas of intervention from 2022 to 2023. We try to save a few of the components on last season’s car but try to improve the aerodynamic performance of the car, improve the weight of the component and improve the quality of the component. There has been a massive rework of the car – some of the components don’t look radically different – it’s probably more a development of the 2022 car but there is a complete rework of the car involving many, many components.
“Last year’s pole position brought great joy to everyone in the team – it was the first for Haas. For me, our objective is always to maximize our performance in every condition, on every track, with both drivers. How that will materialize into a final result, I’m not sure. It would be great to see a podium or a race win, we always have to aim high and let’s see what we can get in 2023.”
