Formula 1
Haas tech boss doesn't care for F1 rivals' polemics
Haas technical director Simone Resta says he pays no attention to unease rivals have about his Formula 1 car, as he is only interested in making it faster.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: May 5, 2022, 1:50 PM
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The American-owned squad has had a positive start to the 2022 campaign, with its VF-22 proving to be a Q3 contender and able to challenge for points.
Following on from a difficult 2021 campaign, where Haas was pegged to the back of the grid thanks to abandoning any development work on its old car, the team has been buoyed by the progress it has made.
However, its success has not gone down well with all of its competitors, with there having been questions asked by some squads about Haas potentially gaining an edge thanks to its ultra-close partnership with Ferrari.
But with the FIA being fully satisfied that the Haas-Ferrari partnership is operating within the regulations, Resta himself is adamant that he wastes no time worrying about what the opposition think.
"You know, honestly, I just care about my job, the job we're doing with a car, trying to improve it, and trying to give a better car to the drivers," he said.
"All those things are on a different level from where I operate at the moment. We know the rules we need to respect, we respect them, and we move forward. There's not much to say."
Resta says that while there are some design similarities between the Haas and the Ferrari, he thinks they are many design concepts on other cars that look the same elsewhere on the grid.
"You can look at the photos, and [you can see] a lot of cars with a lot of similarities," he explained. "I think just everyone has to do a nice job and concentrate [on themselves].
"I suppose for a team like ours, being in the middle of the midfield, maybe someone wasn't expecting that. But, yeah, it's life. We just push the performance and do a better job, and then the car will be there."
Kevin Magnussen, Haas VF-22
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Resta is confident that Haas can build on its strong start to the campaign, and has potential to unlock more performance from its 2022 challenger even though team boss Gunther Steiner is being cautious about rushing through upgrades.
Asked if he shared Steiner's views about holding fire on developments for a bit, Resta said: "I can only agree about what Gunther says and I understand his position in the way that yes, the cars are so different from last year, the tyres are different, so there's a lot to learn.
"The porpoising wasn't expected in the way that it did happen, so we need to understand it and there are lots of things to learn.
"It's also fair to say that the car, being in the first year of the new regulations, there is a lot also to unlock.
"Saying that, I think there is also something to be done on the car side and to improve it. Not to rush it, but, at the right time, to move the car forward. I think there is potential to do it."
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Although the team had a difficult weekend in Australia, where it didn't hit the ground running with the right set-up, Resta thinks there is not much wrong with its car as it has scored points in every other race.
"The drivers are generally happy with it. If anything, we probably have to try to improve it a little bit in the high-speed sections, if I compare it to the others, but generally the car is working well in all conditions.
"We just need to keep working hard, head down and try to improve race after race. I think we know the objectives that have been set by the team, so we need to do our best to make sure we can achieve them."
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