By Adam Tate, Managing Editor
Despite their incredibly successful start to the season, Haas F1 Team plans to end development of the VF-16 sooner rather than later and switch their focus to the 2017 car.
After becoming the first team to score points on debut since Toyota, Gene Haas is eager to allocate most of the new outfits resources into preparing for next season’s massive regulation changes which aim to bring faster cars, wider tires and the halo device.
Other than some updates we have been working on, we are pretty much done with the 2016 car. 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. – Gene Haas
Although stopping development early will surely slow down the team’s early season momentum, it is a smart move. Grosjean was able to hold off Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India during the closing stages in Australia, a car that was the darling of the midfield last year, so the American newcomers are hardly struggling for pace at this point.
It will be one of the more fascinating points of the season to see who will soon follow Haas’ suit and who will develop their 2016 designs to the bitter end.
Image: Haas F1 Team
