Haas F1 Team brought their new car, the VF23, to Silverstone for a shakedown session
Haas F1 Team was the first Formula 1 team to unveil their livery for the upcoming 2023 F1 season, sharing their vision for hte year ahead with the world last week.
Now they are one of the first teams to take their car to the track ahead of preseason testing at the end of the month. Haas brought their car for the 2023 F1 season to the legendary Silverstone track, site of the British Grand Prix:
In addition to giving the VF23 a Silverstone shakedown, Haas Technical Director Simone Resta shared his thoughts on the development of the VF23 and Haas’ expectations for the season ahead with the media, including SB Nation. Haas finished eighth in the Constructors’ Championship last season, their best finish since placing sixth during the 2018 campaign. For Resta, it was good step forward, which opens up new resources for the team:
“Finishing eighth in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship has been a very positive result for the team. Of course, we aim to always do better and finish better, but I think it was a very good step forward and this will inevitably give some extra resource to the team. We are always trying to maximize the amount of money we can invest to move forward and make another step. That has been one of the aims with this new project to be able to have a stronger in-season development program.”
Resta also outlined the differences between the VF23, and last year’s model, the VF22:
“We’re looking at all main areas of intervention from 2022 to 2023. We try to save a few of the components on last season’s car but try to improve the aerodynamic performance of the car, improve the weight of the component and improve the quality of the component. There has been a massive rework of the car – some of the components don’t look radically different – it’s probably more a development of the 2022 car but there is a complete rework of the car involving many, many components.”
One of the biggest changes for Haas this season is their driver lineup. Kevin Magnussen — who scored the team’s first-ever pole position at Interlagos at the end of last season — is back, joined by Nico Hülkenberg. Magnussen and Hülkenberg had a rather colorful dustup a few seasons ago which was featured in an early episode of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, and Hülkenberg poked fun at that incident on social media before the shakedown at Silverstone:
Last year’s pole has Resta, along with the rest of the team, aiming higher in 2023. “Last year’s pole position brought great joy to everyone in the team – it was the first for Haas. For me, our objective is always to maximize our performance in every condition, on every track, with both drivers. How that will materialize into a final result, I’m not sure. It would be great to see a podium or a race win, we always have to aim high and let’s see what we can get in 2023.”
