Haas has a number of new parts on the VF-25 car at this weekend’s British Grand Prix as it looks to improve its qualifying pace and target more points going forward.
The update package includes a wide-ranging set of modifications to the VF-25’s floor and alterations to the sidepod that bring them more in line with the designs we see elsewhere on the grid.
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The forward section of the sidepod bodywork on this generation of car is as much about managing the turbulence coming from the front wheel assemblies and improving flow downstream as they are about creating the right opportunity to cool the internal components.
This is due to the lack of control surfaces available with these regulations, whereas in the past the designers had numerous ways of dealing with this, including bargeboards, flow conditioners, deflectors and the like.
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And whilst there was a wide variety of solutions fielded at the start of these regulations, over time the entire field has converged on very similar ideas, with the overbite-style inlet, large undercut and down-sloping rear bodywork solution now used by all of the teams to one degree or another.
In the case of Haas, its solution has up until now been a little less complex than some of their rivals.
But the new version moves the needle closer as the overbite section now forms somewhat of a mid-wing in the outer portion.
This now creates a shedding surface (arrowed), which is why the team may have decided to cast aside the aerodynamic furniture that enveloped the mirror housing, switching it for a much more simplistic design instead.
The undercut shape has also been altered by the modifications to the inlet, which is now a little further rearward, whilst the geometry of the lower lip has also been changed to square the jawline.
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The expectation from this package, especially given how tightly packed the midfield is, that a jump in performance should help the Haas drivers to qualify higher, which in turn makes for more balanced decisions from a strategic point of view for the race, as explained by Oliver Bearman.
He told media including PlanetF1.com: “We have some upgrades this weekend. It looks like it’s going to point us in the right direction.
“Generally, our weak point has been qualifying. Because actually, in race pace, we’ve been pretty strong.
“We’ve been P10 and P11 for the last two races with qualifying positions that tell us that we shouldn’t be that good.
“So this is going to hopefully bring a bit more quality performance, high-speed performance, and hopefully that can can give us a few hundredths, because that’s all it really takes.
“It’s really tight.”
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