The American-owned outfit finished bottom of the constructors’ championship in 2023 after Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg found themselves struggling for pace in races thanks to tyre issues.
Well aware of how much the problem held it back, Haas headed into F1’s pre-season test in Bahrain last week with a complete focus on race-distance runs to try to get to the bottom of what was going wrong.
Having felt encouraged by the answers it got from its new VF-24, Haas boss Ayao Komatsu said that Magnussen and Hulkenberg can enjoy much greater consistency in the season ahead.
“Last year's car was inconsistent, it was quite nasty,” said Komatsu. “Depending on the conditions – tyre condition, wind condition or track temperature – the car really wasn't behaving in a predictable manner.
“Whereas this year's car is behaving in a predictable manner. It’s consistent.
“Yes, we are still lacking downforce, especially in high-speed and sort of balancing medium/low-speed characteristics, but I don't think it's got nasty characteristics.”
Komatsu believes that its efforts have paid off in helping deliver what he considers an “acceptable” baseline to start to the season with, prior to upgrades arriving at some point in the early phase of the campaign.
Source: Autosport