Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says it should come as no surprise that the team’s major upgrade being introduced at the Hungarian Grand Prix would copy the Ferrari concept.
Friday practice was the first running of the updated Haas, with Kevin Magnussen running the new car at the Hungaroring while Mick Schumacher has the old spec. The upgraded car shows a number of developments similar to Ferrari’s F1-75 and Steiner says the partnership with the Scuderia made it the clear route to follow.
“I would say quite a bit (is like the Ferrari),” Steiner said. “Is something wrong with that?
“There are three concepts out there — the Ferrari concept, the Red Bull concept and the Mercedes concept — call it three big ones. We are closest to Ferrari so obviously we are going to see what Ferrari has done and copy that one. But it took a little bit of time because they had to launch their car and do races, and then we had to go into the wind tunnel to do testing looking at that car.
“If we have got the same concept as Ferrari then we are not going to copy the Williams; obviously you copy something that is similar. Therefore it takes a little bit longer because you want to see what the other ones do in terms of what works and doesn’t work.
“We took a little bit of time ourselves because I think we are in a pretty good place for where we are supposed to be. We didn’t expect to come out this strongly in the beginning so let’s try to gain as much as possible and let’s look what’s out there and try to see which direction we can go in. From looking at people and then going into the wind tunnel and doing development takes some time.”
Steiner has no concerns that any other team will complain about the choice to try and copy the Ferrari, given the pace the team has been able to show so far this season.
“I expect to be fast. If somebody says we copy, I will give the the same answer — what should we have copied, the Williams? No disrespect to Williams but it’s a completely different concept and they are behind us. If you copy something, you copy the best you can, and at the moment it’s Ferrari and Red Bull.
“Our car, we have got the same engine as Ferrari, we have got the same gearbox, we have got the same suspension, why would we copy anything else? And they are winning races. One and one is still two, and we are not this stupid!”
