Formula One: Haas aim to escape from the box while Hamilton returns

Haas F1's new car and livery are out of the box. Photo / Supplied

Although the Haas F1 team failed to score any championship points in 2021, finishing a distant last in the Constructors' championship, it has at least started the new season by being the first team to unveil its new car.
The American team was created by Gene Haas in 2014, but didn't make its F1 debut until the first race of the 2016 season in Melbourne, Australia. The team, using a Ferrari engine and with technological support from the Scuderia Ferrari team, did reasonably well in that first season, finishing eighth out of 10 teams.
It repeated that placing in 2017, and then a breakthrough year in 2018 as the team finished fifth in the championship, with drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, who finished fourth and fifth respectively in the Austrian GP, which remains the team's best race performance in six seasons.

Last year the team had two rookie drivers, Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, and Nikita Mazepin, the son of a Russian billionaire. Both return with the team this year, as does team principal Gunther Steiner.

The new car was unveiled online on February 4, and the red, blue and mainly white livery is similar to the 2021 car, while the actual design is very similar, colour included, to the mockup 2022 car revealed by the FIA at Silverstone in July. But Steiner feels the new car will enable the team to escape from a box in a sense.

"We got kicked to last in 2020 and last year with the pandemic - we made a step backwards instead of making steps forward," Steiner said.

"This year, with having a new car, there are more problems but it's good to have these problems. Because you can move forward again. Whatever you do will be positive for the whole year. You are not locked in like you were last year. We always tried to get the best but you're in a box. You cannot get out."

"This year, whatever happens, we need to be good - if we get boxed in - to get out of it because we have the opportunity. So, it's a lot more exciting."

Technical director Simone Resta says while the team hopes to return to the midfield this year, the main target is 2023 as it has recruited new members from Ferrari and is working closely with Dallara, and now has a fully fledged office at Maranello, the headquarters of the Ferrari team.

"It's important to highlight we are still in the early stages of our development and transition," Resta says. "We will still grow a lot this year and finesse areas and skillsets."

Steiner also indicated he has had discussions with new FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem about the FIA investigation into the Abu Dhabi fiasco relating to race director Michael Masi's decision to allow racing on the last lap following a safety-car situation, but declined to reveal the precise nature of those discussions. "We all know Michael Masi is race director but I don't know what is the underlying [structure] and how to make it better. As I said, I'm pretty involved with what I'm doing with Haas F1, so I'm not getting involved in this. But I've full confidence in the FIA that they will fix it."

"I don't give a lot of recommendations to president Mohammed," he added. "We talked about it, they were private talks, and I don't want to go there. But I know they are diligently working on it to make it ... I wouldn't say better, which is the wrong word ... to make it mainly better for whoever is the race director. It's a very difficult job but I'm not here to protect Michael or anything. It is very difficult."

It is widely known that Mercedes team boss Toto Wolf and Lewis Hamilton believe Masi's decision to allow unlapped cars between Hamilton, who had led the race from the first lap, and Max Verstappen, enabled the latter to pass Hamilton on that last lap, "robbing" Hamilton of an eighth championship.

The latter had all but disappeared after standing on the Abu Dhabi podium. Although he congratulated Verstappen after the race, during that last lap after Verstappen passed him, he said on the team radio the result had been "manipulated".

He refused to attend the compulsory post-race press conference and FIA gala in Paris to collect the runner-up trophy. He also declined to talk to the press at Windsor Palace when presented with his knighthood by Prince Charles. He subsequently disappeared from social media, which in the past he has used comprehensively to highlight racial issues such as inequality and a lack of diversity in F1.

By remaining silent for two months, his aim undoubtedly was to create sympathy for his championship loss and cause a media frenzy as to whether he was going to return to F1 or not. Most F1 pundits haven't doubted for one minute that he will fulfil his Mercedes contract, which expires at the end of 2023 and is worth about US$50 million a year, making him F1's highest-paid driver by some margin.

Hamilton broke his media silence last week on Twitter, posting a picture of himself in the Grand Canyon region, with a few simple words: "I've been gone. Now I'm back!"

Some F1 journos think he is waiting to see whether Masi keeps his job before confirming he will definitely be back, but that is speculative journalistic mischief aimed at selling more print space. The FIA will not release the findings of its investigation until the weekend of the season opener on March 18 in Bahrain, and Mercedes will unveil its new car for Hamilton and new teammate George Russell, on February 18. And Mercedes has now posted a tweet with a photograph showing Hamilton looking at a wall of messages, with the caption: "Welcome back @ LewisHamilton." This basically confirms the whole "where's Lewis saga" has been a carefully choreographed publicity stunt to keep the pressure on the FIA.

New world champion Max Verstappen holidayed in the US like Hamilton, and now the media are focusing on how long the 24-year old may stay in F1 thanks to comments Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko made to Autorevue when reflecting on last year's title battle.

"We were all at the limit," Marko said. "And you are also much more susceptible to the flu. Thank God some people only got the coronavirus after Abu Dhabi [including team principal Christian Horner]. That was good timing. And Max also said he couldn't stand such an intensity any more. He still wants to drive for a while but if that's the case every year, then it [his career] is limited."

Marko is renowned for having unconventional views. When coronavirus delayed the start of the 2020 season for four months, he suggested it was "an ideal time" for the Red Bull and (then) Toro Rosso drivers to get the virus because "these are all strong young men in really good health. That way they would be prepared whenever the action starts".

When Verstappen was presented with his world champion trophy in Paris, there was every indication he is in F1 for the long haul despite the intensity of his season-long battle with Hamilton.

"While it's nice to be called world champion, I think more about the long journey and all the hours spent working with my dad to be here," he said in Paris. "It's been a long and tough season and it feels amazing to have finally achieved my goal; I hope I can do this many more times."

Horner was asked at the Autosport award dinner if the fallout from Abu Dhabi had been a downer for Verstappen. Horner replied: "Not really, because the only ones talking about it have been you guys!" referring to the media.

Max's father Jos has to some extent lamented his son's success.

"Everyone wants a piece of Max at the moment," he told De Telegraaf.

"On the one hand, that's a nice compliment for him. He's doing incredibly well in the car, but also outside. He comes across well, has a fresh head and remains himself."
"So I understand that a lot of people are proud. Of course, I am. But at some points I do have trouble with it. For example, in the eyes of some Belgian media, Max is suddenly a Belgian. I think that's a bit weak."

"We have been racing for years, but until a few months ago there was little or no writing about him in Belgium and now they suddenly claim he is theirs. I absolutely don't see it that way myself."

Max was born in Belgium and his parents married there, but Jos is Dutch.

"The situation is that Max has both nationalities, because me and Sophie were married at the time he was born," Jos continued. "But since he races under a Dutch licence, he is slightly more Dutch than Belgian. That's how he feels it himself."

Just why Verstappen snr saw the necessity to potentially offend the Belgian nation with his comments, is anyone's guess. Some things are best never said.

At least with the teams launching their new cars almost daily from here on, the speculative talk can stop and the action begin in a season that will see significant changes in the regulations and therefore the design of the cars. Lewis can't wait