The surprise factor that slows Haas F1 in the big prizes

“Until we start to run, the nerves will be in the skin of leather”. The Haas team director, Ayao Komatsu, was very sincere when asked in Miami about the progress of the team in relation to Understand the instability that affects your car in high -speed curves.

The team accelerated some experimental soil settings for the Japan Grand Prix, avoiding the usual simulation procedures. But although this seemed to mitigate the trend of the VF-25 to enter a vertical oscillation phase in high-speed curves, Americans are still unable to predict accurately when it will occur and in what circuits it is most likely to occur.
Therefore, Haas has to roll with the car to find out, which costs them a vital time on the track, even more harmful to the Sprint on weekends, in which there is only one training session. “If we had a standard weekend, Most Friday, or I would say that at least half on Friday, we would be trying to understand if we have that problem or not“Komatsu said,” and then where we can make the car work [en términos de altura de conducción, etc].
“While we should be able to put the car on the track on FP1 [en términos de estar listo]and then work on tires or balance. But we have a delay session in that aspect, something even more difficult for the sprint weekends“He continued.
The phenomenon of high speed oscillation has affected several equipment since the introduction of the current soil effect monoplays regulation. To achieve maximum aerodynamic load, The car has to roll as close as possible from the surface of the track, but if it approaches too much and the air flow under the floor is “stagnant”, the car can enter a cycle of uncontrolled vertical oscillation.

To mitigate it, An interaction between aerodynamics and the kinematics of the suspension is necessary. It is difficult to simulate, so Haas caught by surprise when the phenomenon occurred in the first date of this season.
In the second Grand Prix, in China, the smooth surface on the track and the relative shortage of high -speed curves caused the problem not to be reproduced, but that did not mean that it was resolved, or that the team would have understood why it happened. Despite the imminent arrival of a package of improvements for next race weekend, in Icola, Haas still does not fully understand why the VF-25 behaves as it does.
“I would not say that [lo hemos] Understood at all, “Komatsu continued,” because if we did, I think we could be sure that in the future we can provide a solution that completely eradicate the problem. We understand certain dimensions, but I don’t think we understand each and every one of them … There are some questions about how we start, say, the dynamics“.
“I would not say that we have it completely controlled. But every time we run, it’s better. If we can get that robustness and consistency, then I think we can fight in the middle zone consistently, that is our goal. If the Icola package will get it or not, I don’t know“He concluded.