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F1 Singapore GP: Haas to introduce final upgrades at Singapore

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner has confirmed a new front wing, new brake ducts and floor alterations will be introduced at the Singapore Grand Prix and mark the squad's final raft of upgrades for the season.

With Haas looking to make inroads in the competitive midfield battle it will run the new parts at the Marina Bay Street Circuit and the car will remain in its configuration for the rest of the year.

Both drivers will be hoping the new brake ducts significantly help with cooling after continually struggling with the issue over the European stretch of its debut F1 campaign while Steiner is aiming for the new parts to deliver 'more consistent and enhanced aerodynamic performance'.

"I think we're at a good point in finding solutions and finding the balance of the car," Steiner said. "We are bringing updates to the car in Singapore which, hopefully, will help us go faster. The midfield is so close and we are just at the end of it.

"I think it's all about execution. Just a little bit more and we will get in the points. I would say we are the sixth or seventh best team. I think we opened up a gap to the people behind us in the competition speed-wise, but Force India and Williams are still going strong in front of us and we are battling with McLaren, so it's just a very tight midfield."

The Singapore upgrades, which were produced off the back of wind tunnel data and required developing hence the late arrival, will act as the last updates of 2016 for the VF-16 as focus at the factory switches to 2017 ahead of the regulations revamp.

"We finished developing this year's car completely more than two months ago," he said. "These changes came from wind tunnel data and it took a little bit of time to develop the parts. We took our time so we are better prepared for next year.

"We've been using a 60-percent scale model car in the wind tunnel since February, but from February to June we developed both cars (2016 and 2017) simultaneously. In the past two-and-a-half months, it's been all hands on deck developing the 2017 car." 

Zdroj: crash.net