New chassis for Esteban Gutierrez
Esteban Gutierrez's collision with Fernando Alonso during the Australian Grand Prix has taken a toll on his chassis. The Mexican driver will therefore have a new chassis for the weekend in Bahrain.
If the first race of the season ended ideally for Romain Grosjean with points for sixth place, Esteban Gutierrez’s race experienced a much more problematic finish, with the impressive crash involving Fernando Alonso.
As a safety measure, the team decided to send its chassis back to Europe for Dallara to carry out safety checks on it, as explained by Günther Steiner, the team director: « Several parts, such as the chassis, were sent back to Europe to be checked and repaired because we couldn’t do it directly in Bahrain. »
The team, an offshoot of the giant machine tool manufacturer of the same name, had enough spare parts, even though it’s still in its early stages: « We had enough spare parts to build another chassis. So, we are going to use it. The chassis that was repaired will be sent back to Bahrain by plane to serve as a spare. The guys will have to work day and night to be in Bahrain, but it’s doable. Our spare parts stock is low, but we have enough to move forward. So we’re just going to keep working. »
But spare parts are not the only concern for the American team. Indeed, the team had the “good fortune” of not having to make pit stops in Melbourne since the only tire change on Romain Grosjean’s car took place under red flag conditions, which reduced the pressure on its mechanics: “We did not complain about not having to make a pit stop in Australia, but we will definitely have to do so in Bahrain. We will do a lot of things in practice in Bahrain to ensure we are ready. We will focus on performing competitive pit stops this weekend. The team must go into the race confident that they have trained well.”
Haas is still in the break-in phase but has already relieved the pressure of scoring its first points, which allows them to move forward with confidence.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr