Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner said the team is using its existing 2023 cost cap budget to help development on the 2024 car as it hopes to "shortcut" the learning process. The team will introduce an updated spec of its VF-23 at the upcoming United States Grand Prix in Austin, which will be a Red Bull-inspired car concept. This makes Haas one of the last teams to switch to the 'downwash effect' after Ferrari made the jump earlier this year, first introducing new parts at the Spanish Grand Prix. Haas stopped bringing updates to the VF-23 after hitting a development wall earlier this year, after admitting to 'facing reality' over the flawed 2023 car. It suffers from high tyre degradation in races but is blisteringly quick over one-lap in qualifying, which has allowed Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg to be occasional Q3 contenders.
Steiner: It was better to do it this year
"This package came out of development we did for 2024, so we were always in that direction and that is the aim," Steiner told media, including RacingNews365 . "At least we learn about the car and how it reacts, so we are getting better ready for next year. "That's the biggest thing, because continuing with this one we know where we are, and if you know where we are and you cannot find any performance, then you need to shift to a different concept. "It was better to do it this year, at least an interval version. We didn't spend a lot of money on upgrades this year because we didn't find any performance, so we had some budget available. "We said: 'We're making this step, at least we're doing the best to get ready for next year', and then we are not in Bahrain [during 2024 pre-season testing] and it takes five races to understand that, we're trying to shortcut it." When asked if they plan to keep the same arrangement with Ferrari, Steiner replied: "We will have the same agreement with Ferrari for the suspension and gearbox from them like always before."
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