After a tough, to say the least, campaign in F1 2021, in which the team hasn’t score any points for the first time in its history, the all-new 2022 aerodynamic rules and regulations can’t come soon enough for Haas, as they hope to move their way back up the grid.

Prior to the season, teams have to go through a series of tests, done by the FIA, in order to evaluate whether the car is safe and can withstand the forces and impacts that may happen, if it happens to crash, in order to guarantee the maximum protection for the drivers. This is one of the first processes that take place before every season.

These preparations are already well underway up and down the grid. Haas have announced the approval of their VF-22 chassi on Thursday. Mercedes also showed glimpses of their 2022 project, firing up the engine on its W13 for the first time.

Before the 2021 season finally, Haas’ team principal Guenther Steiner expressed he was hoping for the team to succeed on the test, due to take place later in the month then:

"We've done some preliminary crash test because you don't do the chassis complete straight away. You do a part of it.

"Hopefully we pass it, you know, that is the aim. And no, the car will be assembled before [the first test] and this year we assemble it again in Italy, like we did before.”

In a short statement on the team’s social media on Thursday, Haas confirmed it has successfully passed the test with its 2022 car, showing progress is being made towards putting their VF-22 on track at the first pre-season test in Barcelona, at the end of next February.

VF-22 preparations firmly on-track ahead of the 2022 season with our new chassis homologated ✅#HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/S4vR68Arso

— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) December 23, 2021

Talking about the prospects of the team going forward, Steiner kept his foot on the ground, saying the team should still be the “underdog”, highlighting the fact Haas is the smallest team on the grid, in terms of personnel and budget, but is hopeful the team can go back to the heights it has previously already achieved:

"I think we will be still the underdog, which is trying to punch above its weight, because our structure is exactly the same like it was in '18, '19.

"We changed a little bit instead of using Dallara people now we've got our own people and some of the people from Ferrari, which were moved from there, because of the budget cap. But we are still the smallest team.

"I think people wise, production wise obviously we are by far the smallest, so I think we're still the team we were in 2018. And we want to get back to '16, '17, '18, '19, whatever you want to call it. We still want to be known to be that."