Ready to Rise in Land of the Rising Sun After Rough Run of Races, Haas F1 Team Pushing for Points in Japan
Mike Arning/HAAS F1 | 5.10.16 | Aktuality
Haas f1
KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina (Oct. 5, 2016) – Despite back-to-back races where Haas F1 Team endured an outcome that was less than desired, the sun still rose on the Mondays following the recent grands prix in Singapore and Malaysia. It’s appropriate then that Haas F1 Team visits the land of the rising sun for this weekend’s race intent on reversing its recent course.
The Japanese Grand Prix Sunday at Suzuka Circuit marks the last of a three-race stretch through the Far East. The trip has not been a fruitful one for Haas F1 Team, with the outfit suffering three DNFs (Did Not Finish) and scoring zero points.
Despite recent disappointments, the 5.807-kilometer (3.608-mile), 18-turn Suzuka Circuit offers a reprieve for Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutiérrez.
Grosjean led 26 laps in the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix before finishing third behind the dominant Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. And in last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, Grosjean finished in the points with a solid seventh-place effort.
Gutiérrez scored the first points of his Formula One career when he finished seventh at Suzuka during his rookie season in 2013. The affable driver has been knocking on the door of another point-paying result all year long, with five 11th-place finishes in the last 12 races.
Grosjean and Gutiérrez look forward to Suzuka, and not just because it’s their next opportunity to displace the late-season misfortune that has befallen them. Suzuka is a driver’s track, where racecars can be pushed to the absolute limit even without being stuck to the track via maximum downforce.
The layout of Suzuka is a figure-eight, and it is the only track on the 21-race Formula One schedule with such a configuration. A bridge overtop the straight that links turns nine (Degner 2) and 10 is a signature of the track, with drivers nearing 330 kph (205 mph) as they go across the bridge through turn 15, better known as 130R, so named because of its 130-meter radius.
The first sector of the track caters to a car’s aerodynamic efficiency, while the second sector rewards horsepower. The entire course features every kind of corner, and its relatively old asphalt surface provides a high level of grip.
The stout amount of grip combined with high lateral loads through the corners accelerates tire wear, which is why for the second straight week Pirelli has brought the three toughest tires in its lineup – the P Zero Orange hard, the P Zero White medium and the P Zero Yellow soft.
Tough is a term that aptly describes Haas F1 Team. The first American Formula One team in 30 years has scored 28 points so far in its debut season to sit a respectable eighth in the constructor standings, 19 points behind seventh-place Toro Rosso and 20 points ahead of ninth-place Renault.
Five races still remain in 2016, giving Haas F1 Team five more opportunities to solidify its position among its far more established counterparts. Having already risen from dream to reality, Haas F1 Team seeks an upward trajectory Sunday in the Japanese Grand Prix.
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