F1 2022 cars give teams "fire and ambition"

F1 2022

F1 2022 cars give teams "fire and ambition"

New cars hit the grid next season

Ewan Gale

Thursday 2 September 2021 11:01 Updated: 11:16

Haas technical director Simone Resta believes the opportunity to build a new car for 2022 from scratch has given engineers "fire and ambition".

Cars will alter radically from the current era of machinery with new aerodynamic regulations aiming to promote more exciting racing throughout the field by reducing turbulent air.

With no previous iterations to work off, engineers will be given the opportunity to test new theories so long as they fall within the regulations.

“I believe that the introduction of a new set of regulations represents a unique chance for the team to develop ideas from scratch, as there are no references with existing cars," said Resta.

"You can see in each engineer’s eyes the fire and ambition to prove they can come up with the best design or concept.

"In a way, there are many common elements and situations between new car projects, but it’s also true that they are all different as the conditions are not the same.

"With a new set of regulations you are trying to develop something that does not exist yet - this is very exciting - and having learned from previous experiences is a key element when affording new challenges aiming to maximize the team result."

Haas started 2022 "almost from scratch"

The 2022 regulations were originally intended to be introduced this season but were pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Due to little development work taking place within Haas pre-2021, Resta revealed the project was almost completely new when he arrived from Ferrari at the start of the current campaign.

“Originally this big regulation change was planned for 2021, then when the Covid pandemic hit our sport, it was decided to postpone the introduction of the new regulations to 2022 including several changes.

"At the same time, the aerodynamic development on this platform was frozen for the remaining part of 2020.

“When this decision was taken, Haas was at a point of having done just some small development work, so in 2021, it has been basically a fresh restart on those regulations.

"I joined the team in January this year and I started working with the team on the new technical organization almost from scratch, being quite involved in the recruitment process to form the technical organization, reviewing roles and decision-making process, and in parallel doing minimal work needed to legalize the VF-21."