Let Us Hope It is Not Another Dog

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I really hope they have put things right this year.

Gene Haas is the owner of the Haas Racing Team that competes in the Formula One Championship.He is more behind the scenes though as his team principal is Guenther Steiner and he makes the calls.

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Make or break season as Gene Haas will pull the plug.

Last season the Haas team had a decent two weeks of testing before the Melbourne Grand Prix and he was feeling fairly confident. No one is 100 percent sure though and Christian Horner compared it to everyone pulling their trousers down at the same time to see what everyone's got.

Haas had a quick car as they qualified in 5th and Magnussen finished 6th in the first race. This is big for a small team who are trying to be the next team behind the big name teams with big budgets. Having less to spend means for harder choices and the team has to gamble more on those choices.

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2019 was not a good year for the Haas team even though the Melbourne result promised so much. The races that followed were a complete disaster as the speed that the car once showed was no longer there and they were going backwards. Teams improve fractions of seconds per race throughout the season but this team wasn't.

The problem with the car became very clear as qualifying was good, but racing it was a dog. As soon as the Haas was in traffic or behind another car it would change the performance so much that it was virtually impossible to control.

When a car is tested in the wind tunnel it is not taking into account for dirty air.I am sure the top teams look at this scenario as with a bigger budget you have plan A,B and C.

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Guenther and Grosjean at testing earlier this week.
The situation got so bad for Guenther Steiner that he had to change the car set ups for the British Grand Prix. Magnussen would continue with the new updated spec whilst Grosgean would go back to the Melbourne spec. This is almost unheard of as it tells you the team has no idea where they are and having to do drastic tests whilst racing.

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Under severe pressure this season.

Gene Haas knew that the team lacked racing strategy and looking from the outside in comparing to teams around them they are still very amateur in the way things are done. Guenther Steiner is probably under more pressure than most team principals as he has one owner he has to answer to.

2019 was so bad that they lost their title sponsor who was reportedly going to inject $60 Million. After only 4 months this sponsor pulled out leaving them back at where they were before.The drivers Magnussen and Grosjean have to also take some blame as they need to be developing the car with vital input.

Haas are going to benefit from the no specification changes this year as it gives them a chance to catch up. I kind of feel sorry for Guenther though as Haas will pull the plug at some point if this doesn't improve.