F1 | Haas' Technical Director expects to 'maximise opportunities' from Ferrari partnership
Uralkali Haas F1 Team's Technical Director Simone Resta revealed to MotorLat, and others in attendance at the online press conference and VF-22 launch, that confidence is high for 2022 and beyond.
Having been the first team to unveil their 2022 challenger for the upcoming Formula One season, the Uralkali Haas Formula One Team have been enjoying a fair share of column inches and social media interest. MotorLat was in attendance at a recent press conference with the team’s Technical Director Simone Resta as he answered a variety of questions from an interested media and shared his hope for the coming season and a return to the midfield.
Uralkali Haas Formula One Team unveiled their brand-new 2022 challenger, the VF-22, this past Friday in the form of rendered digital images. Despite the fact that the livery showed great similarity to that of 2021, the new regulations in design elements were clear to see from the new style of the nose right through the body of the car to the revolutionary rear wing. However, to ensure that not all the secrets are given away, the digital renderings do not fully represent what the VF-22 will actually look like. That moment will not come until next month when all 10 Formula 1 teams will gather to shakedown their new entries at Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya between February 23-25.
Having endured a torrid 2021 campaign, due to knowing from the offset that they would be the slowest car of the grid having chosen to make no 2021 upgrades, Uralkali Haas was able to have more time to fully concentrate on the ‘22 car. Last year, with rookie drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin at the wheel, Haas failed to finish in the points at any of the 23 F1 Grand Prix weekends. In 2022, as a result of the heavily revised regulations for Formula One, the team clearly hope the VF-22 will be far more competitive.
Netflix’ Drive to Survive brought Haas a lot of fans due to the portrayal of charismatic team principal Guenther Steiner. Having been self-described rockstars momentarily in season one, consequent episodes and seasons saw the team’s fall from grace. Now, thanks to 2022 bringing an effective reset with new regulations, the first task on the agenda for Haas is surely a return to battling in the midfield.
This is no easy task, but Haas’ equally charismatic Technical Director Simone Resta revealed to MotorLat, and others in attendance at the online press conference and VF-22 launch, that confidence is high.
“This is probably the most complex project the Uralkali Haas F1 Team has dealt with to-date for many reasons,” reflected Resta. “It’s a completely new set of regulations and this season we’ve brought in a new team to manage the creation of the VF-22. Not everyone is new but a good chunk of people have joined with a revised structure now in place. I consider this as a great success in the process. We’re still early in the project and going through a transitional season of working together on a car for a full year, but if we look back where we started, this team is already a success.”
“Although it has been a challenge, I can’t stress enough how proud I am of the team we have built over the past year,” said Resta, who has been seconded by Ferrari to Haas. “With new team members, many from Ferrari, and working very closely with Dallara, we now have a fully-fledged design office in Maranello.
“If we look back a year ago to where we are now, I think there has been a dramatic step forward and if we could take the staff we have now and go back to this time last year, it would have been fantastic to start the project with them. It’s important to highlight we are still in the early stages of our development and transition. We will still grow a lot this year and finesse areas and skillsets.”
This confidence is owing to the fact that the team’s Maranello-based complex has a close working partnership with the more well-known Maranello inhabitants – Ferrari. With both teams learning the new regulations, Simone Resta feels that they will “maximise these opportunities” and we “will see the best deployment from this team in one year after developing the car.”
Uralkali Haas is a perfect example of how things can change so quickly in a single season. Having achieved 5th place in the 2018 F1 Constructors’ standings, they plummeted to 9th in the table the following the season. After witnessing early signs that a return to the midfield could come to pass as opposed to being the car on the grid used to always being passed, Simone Resta made clear how he feels.
“My overwhelming emotion is being pleased about the work we have done, I’m quite proud. I think it would be difficult to do more. That doesn’t necessarily mean we will achieve all our objectives, I’m always realistic. I think there will be progress this season if all goes well and there aren’t any surprises.”
The spotlight has shone on Haas after being the first to enter the 2022 stage. No one enjoyed seeing their lackluster 2021 performance even though it was expected even before the lights went out. Therefore, there will surely be many race fans hoping that team principal Guenther Steiner and co have found a way to figuratively get the band back together and become ‘rockstars’ once more.
