(Motorsports news) The American racing team Haas were the first to reveal its new car for the 2023 F1 season. Haas will feature a new livery on this year’s VF-23 car as at the time of the MoneyGram announcement, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said the deal would allow the team to operate at the limit of F1’s budget cap which meant that it would have similar spending power to the top F1 teams going forward. Haas surprised everyone last season when they finished constructors’ championship in eighth place, which was the team’s best result since 2018, it included a historical pole position in Brazil as well.
Haas released the car on Tuesday featuring the car with the No. 20 of Kevin Magnussen and No. 27 of new recruit Nico Hulkenberg, who replaced Mick Schumacher at the team this year. The VF-23 will officially be inaugurated to the media in Silverstone on February 11 which means that Haas will be among the first teams to hit the track with its new car before all 10 teams run be present at F1’s official preseason test in Bahrain from February 23 to 25.
There could be some shakedowns before the official preseason testing as these things are common and make use of a team’s “filming day”, which exists under F1’s strict testing restrictions which allows 100km of private track time for promotional purposes only. The first race of the season will take place on March 5 in Bahrain as this season Haas have replaced the white base seen on the 2021 and 2022 challengers with a black livery. While flashes of white are seen alongside red highlights which draws comparison to their 2020 design.
The livery compliments both Haas Automation, the tooling firm run by Team Owner Gene Haas and MoneyGram, the company which has become the main title sponsor for the American based team. Haas will enter the 2023 season looking to continue their recent upward trajectory as they finally moved off the foot of the F1 constructors’ standings to eighth position under the new regulation. This season Haas have two very experienced drivers in Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenburg as they look to challenge for the 5 and 6th place in the constructors championship.
Team boss Steiner said: “I obviously share everyone’s enthusiasm around the livery unveil, not least as it’s a checkpoint in the preseason calendar which means we’re another step closer to doing the thing we actually want to be doing — and that’s go racing. I like the livery, it’s undoubtedly a more elevated and modernized look which is fitting as we move into a new era alongside MoneyGram as our title partner”
Haas will have Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in its driver line-up this year as Steiner said “It’s an exciting time of year for Formula One and it’s great that we’re first out the gate to showcase our livery but our attention is firmly on getting the VF-23 on-track and preparing for the season ahead. We really have something to build on following last year’s performances. The whole organization has been working hard to reach this point and obviously in Kevin and Nico we have two proven points-scoring talents locked in behind the wheel. I can’t wait to get started.”
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