Formula 1 teams have begun arriving in Barcelona ahead of testing which begins this Wednesday, with Haas already set up and running a shakedown this morning.
A video of the car pulling out of the pits, released by the team, offers the first glimpse of this year’s VF-22 car, aside from digital images that were released two weeks ago.
And we are GO!
The #VF22 takes to the track for the very first time in Barcelona 💪#HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/SewwEaAjEW
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) February 21, 2022
It reveals more on how Haas has interpreted this year’s new regulations, with new features, including the addition of black louvres on the sidepods and a diveplane that appears to split on the front wing endplates, with one arm curving upwards, just ahead of the front wheels, and another curved down. The leading edge of the front wing endplate is now wavy.
Haas spent all of 2021 working on the car, sacrificing development of last season’s car in an effort to get ahead in F1’s new era, where the rules are designed to allow closer racing.
Kyle Forster worked as an aerodynamicist at Mercedes-AMG F1 from 2018-2020 and runs the JKF racing engineering consultancy. Trust me that nobody in the Formula 1 world could tell you…
It used one of its two filming days this year to run the VF-22, as have all other teams, except Alpine, which launches its car this evening. Teams are limited to 100km and must run on promotional tyres, but it offers a chance to identify and fix any initial problems with the new car to maximise time on track during testing.
The first three-day test in Barcelona is billed by Formula 1 as a shakedown because Bahrain has a contract to host the official preseason test, taking place in March.
It will not be televised, and live timing won’t be available, but teams will be able to run as they do for any other preseason test.
Motor Sport will be live blogging the event though from Barcelona including all the latest news and updates from the shakedown across all three days.
