Mid-season review – Haas: A successful debut thanks to a conquering Grosjean

The important figures

Position in the constructors’ standings: 8th

Pole: 0

Podium: 0

Victory: 0

Best result: 5th (Grosjean: Bahrain)

Best qualification: 9th (Grosjean: Bahrain)

Learning Formula 1

Entering Formula 1 from scratch is not an easy task, even for a big name in motorsport like Gene Haas. However, the American entrepreneur approached it in a rather smart way, thanks to a double Italian partnership. Firstly with Dallara, which provides the chassis, and secondly with Ferrari, which in addition to supplying the 2016 power unit (an advantage not granted to Toro Rosso, for example), contributes all its technical expertise on numerous parts of the VF-16. Borderline according to the regulations, but still within the rules, Haas made a notable entry into the premier motorsport discipline and successfully demonstrated the American interest in Formula 1.

Romain Grosjean, the strongman of the team

The experience of the French driver was decisive in the team’s success for its entry into Formula 1. From the start, the former Renault and Lotus driver showed great speed and made no mistakes, earning significant points in the early Grand Prix of the season.

A valuable technical aid when things started to become more difficult, Grosjean, however, struggled to hide a certain frustration after a series of poor results. But his speed and fighting spirit, inherited from a few tough seasons with Lotus, have allowed him to overcome, so far, the initial difficulties inherent to a novice team in Formula 1.

For his part, Esteban Gutierrez has been very discreet in his return to the discipline after a year in the shadows at Ferrari as a development driver. The Mexican has amassed places of honor (four times 11th in races!) without ever scoring a point so far. However, the team seems to continue to trust him, and the drivers are not the priority for consideration for 2017.

The Turning Point of the Spanish Grand Prix

For the inaugural race in Australia, Haas and Romain Grosjean made a splash by scoring points with a 6th place finish. A real achievement considering the team’s limited experience from a general standpoint (knowledge of the discipline, the car, work habits…).

The dream continued in the next race in Bahrain where the Frenchman managed to secure a 5th place, which remains to this day the best result for the team and one of the best results for a new team in recent Formula 1 history. Haas almost started dreaming of a podium, and Grosjean struggled to hide his ambition.

But the first problems arose from the Barcelona race, where the behavior of the VF-16 chassis raised concerns for both drivers. From that moment, the eternal smile on Romain Grosjean’s face began to fade somewhat, and the root of the problem with the red and gray single-seaters remained a mystery. Sometimes the drivers seemed to find the solution, with Gutierrez just missing out on points and Grosjean scoring a few in Austria, helped by particular race circumstances. But since then, the team is still chasing its early-year success and struggling to find new momentum.

Can Haas really do better in 2016?

The question deserves to be asked and the answer unfortunately seems obvious. The team has surely reached its peak performance at the start of the season. It is known that development throughout the year is one of the most important elements in modern Formula 1. Grosjean and Gutierrez will likely still manage to score a few points by the end of the year, but the time for feats and surprise is already past. The team will now have to seriously build a solid future to endure in the discipline, where teams like HRT or Caterham have failed, for example.