{"id":2304,"date":"2017-09-01T07:22:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T11:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=2304"},"modified":"2017-09-01T07:22:43","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T11:22:43","slug":"2304","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2017\/09\/01\/2304\/","title":{"rendered":"Haas switch focus to 2018 car"},"content":{"rendered":"

Haas F1<\/strong> has confirmed that it has switched most of its attention to next season’s car, aiming to deliver a strong package for the 2018 season.<\/p>\n

Haas switch focus to 2018 car<\/h2>\n

Haas joined the F1 grid in 2016 and enjoyed immediate success, securing a fifth place finish on its debut at Australia. In 2017, Haas has continued to grow and improve as a team, and has managed to avoid the typical second year slump that affects most new teams in Formula 1<\/strong>. This has left it in seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship, having already exceeded its 2016 points tally after 12 races.<\/p>\n

Despite being in a very close battle with Williams<\/strong>, Toro Rosso<\/strong> and Renault<\/strong>, Guenther Steiner<\/strong> has confirmed that the team has switched its efforts to next season’s car:\u00a0“We are working towards next year now while still trying to score as many points as possible this year,” he told Denmark’s BT at Monza.\u00a0“At the factory the biggest focus is on next year but on the track we are always trying to get the best out of this year’s car.”<\/p>\n

As teams behind Haas in the standings such as Renault and McLaren<\/strong> have bigger budgets, Steiner also suggested that the team could drop down in the standings:\u00a0“I think everyone is trying to focus on 2018 now. I don’t know what the others have planned for this year, but I think that for most of the midfield, the focus is on 2018,” he said.<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>