Haas 'pretty much done with 2016 car'
Despite its promising start to the 2016 F1 season, the Haas F1 Team is not expecting to keep developing its VF-16 beyond the odd early tweak.
The American newcomer achieved what no other had managed in 14 years - since Mika Salo for Toyota in 2002 - by scoring points on its debut at the Australian Grand Prix, giving it a solid platform in the championship, but team owner Gene Haas has already acknowledged that a bigger challenge lies ahead with the regulation changes facing F1 for next season.
As a result, and in spite of the potential that may lie in the VF-16, the team is expected to turn its attention to preparing for 2017 instead of bringing new ideas to the track this year. It is a tactic that will invariably be addressed by other teams sooner rather than later, with Renault having already said that it will make a decision based on the first few races of 2016 and Red Bull's Adrian Newey expected to imminently turn his pen to next year while the former champions battle to escape the midfield mire.
"Other than some updates we have been working on, we are pretty much done with the 2016 car," Haas confirmed ahead of Romain Grosjean taking sixth place in Melbourne, "We're moving on to the 2017 car because it is a pretty radical change so, other than some minor changes to the front wing, there should not be anything radical coming on this year's car."
Draft proposals for 2017 include the reintroduction of wider tyres and wings, as well as allowing a larger diffuser, in a bid to reduce lap times by around 3-4secs. The look of the cars will be more aggressive than current models and any team willing to make an early start on plans for next season would be doing so in the hope of stealing a march on the opposition.
