{"id":3015,"date":"2018-02-14T13:02:17","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T18:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=3015"},"modified":"2018-02-14T13:20:41","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T18:20:41","slug":"haas-f1-team-gives-us-the-first-glimpse-of-the-2018-challengers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2018\/02\/14\/haas-f1-team-gives-us-the-first-glimpse-of-the-2018-challengers\/","title":{"rendered":"First Glimpse of the 2018 Formula 1 Challengers From Haas F1"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udc4d\ud83d\udc4d\ud83d\udc4d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/vf18?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#vf18<\/a> looking really good. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tFdaSpWDHQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/tFdaSpWDHQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RGrosjean\/status\/963795215357304832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 14, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>The First Glimpse of the VF-18<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Formula 1<\/strong> fans are eagerly awaiting the 2018 season to start. The curtain came down on last season on 26<sup>th<\/sup> November 2017 at <strong>Abu Dhabi<\/strong>. <strong>Williams<\/strong> had announced the first car launch for the 2018 season on February 15<sup>th<\/sup>. The first day of Pre-Season testing (February 26) in <strong>Barcelona<\/strong>, <strong>Spain<\/strong> will give the fans a glimpse of the new challengers on the track for the first time in 2018.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Haas F1<\/strong>, the newest F1 team, sprung a surprise today by posting a video on all their social media platforms and website of their new car. Haas F1 are the first American team in F1 since 1986. The <strong>Ferrari<\/strong>-powered <strong>VF-18<\/strong> is here and the image renderings gives us the first glimpse of the F1 cars with the <strong>Halo<\/strong> system installed. Shark Fins on the engine covers are no longer there.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bigger. Better. Faster. Lighter. <\/p>\n<p>Introducing, the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/VF18?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#VF18<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sMhqW8WpQ8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/sMhqW8WpQ8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HaasF1Team\/status\/963790294222344192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 14, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Haas F1 team distinguished itself with identical eighth place finishes in its debut season (<strong>2016 -29 points<\/strong>) and last season (<strong>2017 \u2013 47 points<\/strong>). This VF-18 is an evolution on last season\u2019s VF-17. Last year, the team wrestled with weight problems and in setting up the car. The performance of the car varied wildly from track to track because of this.<\/p>\n<p>Haas F1 drivers, especially <strong>Romain Grosjean<\/strong>, endured repeated problems with the brakes. The change of the suppliers of the brake disc material did not seem to fix the problem. The problems with the complex brake-by-wire system have to be solved in the new version of the car by the team to make a step forward.<\/p>\n<h2>Gene Haas and Guenther Steiner are Optimistic<\/h2>\n<p>Team owner <strong>Gene Haas<\/strong> said:<em>&#8220;We eliminated a lot of the variables where we knew we were weak. We&#8217;ve focused on what it&#8217;s going to take to get our car to be consistent and close that gap to the top teams.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Guenther Steiner<\/strong>, Team Principal, said<em>:\u201dThe biggest part of the car\u2019s evolution was the addition of the halo. It took quite a bit of study by the aerodynamicists, but the designers had to work hard to modify the chassis so the halo could survive the mandated loads. The total minimum weight of the car increased because of the halo, and there\u2019s a higher center of gravity simply because of the halo\u2019s position. But, everyone is in the same boat.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe regulations stayed pretty stable between 2017 and 2018, so the VF-18 is an evolution of our car from last year. It\u2019s less about reinvention and more about refinement. You see elements we had from last year on the car this year.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOur 2017 car was actually pretty good, but we didn\u2019t always get the best out of it, and that\u2019s what we aimed to change in 2018. We got the car as light as possible to carry more ballast. We were able to do a better job of putting the weight where we wanted it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe livery is a little bit of a return to what we had on our first car, the VF-16. Its look is clean and precise, just like the machine tools made by Haas Automation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>The Drivers<\/h2>\n<p>Grosjean, the team\u2019s French driver, must be hoping that the brake issues are sorted and he can improve on his 13<sup>th<\/sup> position in the drivers\u2019 championship. The Frenchman tweeted:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udc4d\ud83d\udc4d\ud83d\udc4d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/vf18?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#vf18<\/a> looking really good. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tFdaSpWDHQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/tFdaSpWDHQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RGrosjean\/status\/963795215357304832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 14, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Kevin Magnussen<\/strong>, his teammate, who was right behind him in 14<sup>th<\/sup> position in the championship will hope that his fourth season as a full-time driver in F1 will see him improve on his best performance of 11<sup>th<\/sup> position in his debut season (2014).<\/p>\n<p>This is the <strong>Schedule for Car Launches<\/strong> that have been announced so far:<\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>TEAM<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>CHASSIS (POWER UNIT)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>DATE<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>VENUE<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Williams<\/td>\n<td>FW41 (Mercedes)<\/td>\n<td>February 15<\/td>\n<td>London, UK<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Red Bull<\/td>\n<td>RB14 (TAG Heuer)<\/td>\n<td>February 19<\/td>\n<td>TBC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sauber<\/td>\n<td>C37 (Ferrari)<\/td>\n<td>February 20<\/td>\n<td>Online<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Renault<\/td>\n<td>R.S.18 (Renault)<\/td>\n<td>February 20<\/td>\n<td>Online<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Ferrari<\/td>\n<td>TBC (Ferrari)<\/td>\n<td>February 22<\/td>\n<td>Online<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mercedes<\/td>\n<td>W09 (Mercedes)<\/td>\n<td>February 22<\/td>\n<td>Silverstone, UK<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>McLaren<\/td>\n<td>MCL33 (Renault)<\/td>\n<td>February 23<\/td>\n<td>TBC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Toro Rosso<\/td>\n<td>STR13 (Honda)<\/td>\n<td>February 26<\/td>\n<td>Barcelona, Spain<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pre-Season Testing Schedule:<\/strong><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>VENUE<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>DATES<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Barcelona, Spain<\/td>\n<td>February 26 &#8211; March 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Barcelona, Spain<\/td>\n<td>March 6 &#8211; 9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Main Photo:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a id=\"FxztKqEJRu9d1eGrkk2A2w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.in\/detail\/495025000\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'FxztKqEJRu9d1eGrkk2A2w',sig:'G7AmlkQWdcFMzjYqXr2wouo9uuLMxGSuLfoHWC7tPhw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'495025000',caption: true ,tld:'in',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83d\udc4d\ud83d\udc4d\ud83d\udc4d #vf18 looking really good. pic.twitter.com\/tFdaSpWDHQ &mdash; Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) February 14, 2018 The First Glimpse of the VF-18 Formula 1 fans are eagerly awaiting the 2018 season to start. The curtain came down on last season on 26th November 2017 at Abu Dhabi. Williams had announced the first car launch for the 2018 season [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1477,"featured_media":3034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"Haas F1 team gives us the First Glimpse of the 2018 Challengers","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[608,68,301,47,319],"class_list":["post-3015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-formula-1","tag-2018-formula-1-season","tag-f1","tag-haas-f1-team","tag-kevin-magnussen","tag-romain-grosjean"],"modified_by":"Sudha Sundar","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1477"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}