Haas 'discovering problems, but that's what we are here for' at Barcelona F1 test

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu admitted to encountering a number of issues on day one of Formula 1’s Barcelona test, but took pride in his new car’s consistent running.

F1’s new technical era with revamped chassis and engine regulations really began on Monday with the first day of collective testing, which seven teams took part in – the Barcelona behind-closed-doors ‘shakedown’ is five days long with each squad entitled to three days of running.

McLaren and Ferrari forwent the first day, with Aston Martin late enough that it won’t run before Thursday, while Williams is missing the whole test due to setbacks in its design’s finalisation.

Haas’ Ferrari-powered VF-26, however, was among the seven cars that ran today and caused none of the morning’s reported three red flags, though there were still teething problems.

“In terms of mileage we managed to do this morning, it was really good. Behind the scenes, it’s a huge, huge amount of work. I’m sure it’s the same for everyone. But to even make the shakedown and then do the mileage on the shakedown was a huge task,” Komatsu told F1’s official site at lunchtime, referring to Haas’ Fiorano shakedown on Saturday.

Oliver Bearman, Haas VF-26

Photo by: Haas F1 Team

“And then to do 67 laps on the Day 1 morning was really, really good. Now we can start looking a bit more into details.

“Now that we are running, we are discovering issues, problems we need to solve, every lap, every run. But that’s what we are here for, right? At least we are running, that means we are gathering data, we are identifying issues that we need to solve. Still, obviously we just got started, but I’m very, very happy how we started.”

Esteban Ocon was at the wheel in the morning and expressed satisfaction with the running so far, as well as with the total nine days of testing to get to grips with the new machinery – three at Barcelona and six in Bahrain.

“We are dealing with the plan, learning as it goes,” the Frenchman told F1 at lunchtime. “Of course, it is a busy programme that we have for the day. It’s going to be difficult to complete it, but for the first real day of driving, I think so far it’s going really well, and we will keep pushing to make sure all the details are covered, but we have more days than normal, which is a good thing.”

Esteban Ocon, Haas

Photo by: Haas F1 Team

As F1 switches to new power units featuring a near-50:50 split between combustion and electric energy, drivers have to get used to Overtake Mode (a power boost similar to DRS), Boost Mode (further energy deployment to be used anywhere around the lap) and more energy management overall, as well as active aerodynamics on the chassis side.

“Very different, very complicated,” Ocon reckoned. “I got lucky to be able to do a lot of simulator days before we started the year, so we are pretty well set on that, everything is clear. But yes, it’s very complicated for all of us. I hope this will be the same for everyone, because if it is, we’re on the same boat – so we’ll see.”

Asked what are the priorities for the remainder of the week, the Haas driver replied: “The aim is really to learn, to get mileage under the car, see the weak points, what we have to improve really – first feel of things so we are sure that we take the right development path and we are sure that we put the resources where it matters the most, where it’s the most bothering us.

“We’re trying to put all that together for that end of the test – it’s a long week, which is very good. And then we’ll have the chance to go back to Bahrain, with hopefully further steps made. That’s the aim.”